Pac West Fields provided the backdrop for an extra inning thriller in the 2011 District 7 Little League Baseball 9-10 age All-Star tournament.
It took seven innings, but in the end, the South Highline National All-Stars remained in the winners bracket with a tense 9-7 edging out of West Seattle on Sunday, June 26.
SHN moved on to a Wednesday game while the West Seattle All-Stars faced a loser-out game on Monday.
"It was perseverance and total team play," observed National manager Tim Fenster. "It's tough at this level to keep them focused. I'll take my chances with them any day of the week."
Visiting team South Highline opened up its arsenal for a five-run first inning bombardment. Consecutive singles by Teddy Covich and Trevor Morine plus a walk to Christopher Mills to start the game set the Nationals up for the huge at bat.
Jack Fenster's walk pushed one run home before the Normandy Park boys unleashed more hitting prowess. Tyler Kilstrom plated two runs for a single ahead of Joseph Allred's line drive, two-run double.
West Seattle tacked on a single run that was keyed by a Chris Frost leadoff single in the bottom of the inning. Frost eventually advanced to third base by way of a fielder's choice ground out, catcher interference and Kenji Suzuki's sacrifice fly out to left field. From there, he scored easily on a Paul Johnson single.
After a scoreless National second inning at bat, the West Seattleites unloaded second inning artillery fire. With the bases loaded and no outs, Chris Frost lined a single to left field for one run. Another possible run on the hit was snuffed out at home by accurate throwing. Left fielder Ryan Bigelow pegged a strike to second baseman Tyler Kilstrom, who then fired home to Joseph Allred for the put out.
Continuing its at bat, West Seattle forced home a pair of runs on consecutive walks before Richie Wallace completed the rally with a two-run single that gave WS a 6-5 lead.
This margin was short-lived because South Highline National Little League capitalized on five walks in the top of the third inning to go back ahead 7-6.
At this point superb relief pitching and defense changed the tenor of the game into a suspenseful struggle to score additional runs.
In the fourth inning, Paul Johnson's RBI single brought West Seattle into a 7-7 tie.
This 7-7 deadlock would continue through six full innings of regulation play, necessitating extra innings.
In the top of the seventh inning National once again gained the lead. Following 4 2/3 innings of no runs charged to him, West Seattle reliever Richie Wallace had to leave the game with two outs and runners on second and third base due to pitch count.
Right handed batter Christopher Mills greeted the relief pitcher with an opposite field line drive that landed in the right-field corner, scoring two runs for 9-7 National lead.
West Seattle gave itself one more chance in the bottom of the frame by drawing two consecutive walks with no outs. One strike out later, a pop fly out to the shortstop resulted in a game ending double play when Trevor Morine threw to first base to double off the runner.
Mills played a huge role as a relief pitcher and clutch hitter for National. After surrendering four runs in the second inning, Mills settled down on the mound to give up only one more run and two hits before pitch count forced him off the mound with two outs and one man on base in the sixth inning.
"It was kind of cool to be pitching and hitting," he admitted. "I went pretty much with my fast ball. The pitch I hit was outside and I just went with it."
On came Covich, who ended the inning on a strikeout. Covich closed out the game with a scoreless seventh inning.
"I was nervous when I first came in, but I relaxed after we got the two runs," he said.
South Highline manager Fenster also cited catcher Joseph Allred for catching in the heat while jumping up and down for balls in the last two games.
For West Seattle, the loss was not the end of the line.
"Both teams played their hearts out," said West Seattle manager Brian Pare. "They played good, solid defense the way the game should be played. I'm proud of my kids. They're the type that's bounced back before."
