The big hits just kept coming for the Kent Little League Major All-Stars and didn’t for Steel Lake Tuesday night in the semifinal of the District 10 baseball tournament, which began last Saturday at GSA Park in Auburn.
The Kent stars took care of business against Steel Lake, working over the Federal Way team 5-2 behind a golden pitching performance by Jaylen Eichler. Eichler went the distance on the mound, striking out nine and allowing just three hits.
Ben Wadowski went 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs. However, the key hit of the game came off the bat of Grant Stockman, whose RBI double gave Kent a 3-1 lead it would not relinquish.
The win helps Kent advance to the district title game, which is slated for 6 p.m. Friday night against a yet-to-be-determined opponent.
The loss drops Steel Lake into the loser’s bracket, where they will play the winner of a game between Federal Way National and Auburn at 6 p.m. on July 14. National and Auburn will play at 6 p.m. tonight (July 13) at GSA in a loser-out game.
The winner of the loser’s bracket will have to beat Kent twice in the championship round. Steel Lake beat South Hill in the first round and then topped Federal Way National to earn the semifinal berth. National beat Auburn before losing to Steel Lake. National then downed South Hill in the loser’s bracket.
The 2011 District 10 Little League All-Star Tournament for 11- and 12-year-old boys and girls started eight teams from Federal Way, Kent, Bonney Lake, Fife, Puyallup and Northeast Tacoma. The tournament ultimately culminates at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa., in August.
The 2011 Steel Lake Majors team includes Hunter Bowman, Mason DeLaCruz, Alex Evenson, Keenan Fraser, Derek Keyes, Bodan McGraw, Blake Null, Austin Pauls, Ty Sonnenfeld, Gabe Togia and Kyle Williams. The team is coached by Nate Bowman, Joey Sonnenfeld and Jason Cretti.
The Federal Way National Major all-star team includes Nathan Adams, Dawson Bakker, Shane Cameron, Talon Gyalog, Kyle Heffernan, Dylan Lydell, JV Magruder, Tyler Praven, Chris Richards, Matthew Sposari and Calvin Turchin.
