A group of Federal Way-area 14 and 15 year olds can now call themselves state champions. The Steel Lake Little League Senior all-star team rolled to the state title with a victory over Pacwest Little League on Saturday at Mosier Park in Burien. Steel Lake finished 4-0 in the nine-team tournament.
The state championship now qualifies the Steel Lake Senior League all-star team for the Western Regional Tournament. The 10-team regional tournament will be held in Upland, Calif. July 29 to Aug. 5.
The tournament also includes state champions from Idaho, Alaska, Nevada, Hawaii, Arizona, Oregon and Montana, as well as the best teams from Southern and Northern California.
Steel Lake will play the Nevada state champs in their opening game at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The winner will take on Southern California on Wednesday.
The Western Regional winner will advance to the 2008 Senior Little League World Series, which will be held Aug. 10-16 in Bangor, Maine. The World Series will include five regional champions from the United States, as well as teams from Canada, Europe, Latin America and the Asian-Pacific.
Steel Lake Little League team advanced into the finals of the 2008 State Tournament by beating Sky Valley in their opener and Pacwest in the second round.
Steel Lake then downed Fort Vancouver Thursday night to earn a berth into the championship game.
The team includes Jerrod Bachman, Jeff Edd, Sean Fogelberg, Campbell Flewelling, Mason Lapping, Erik Lindenauer, Chris Nishimura, Kevin Oyer, Travis Quackenbush, Ryan Rasmussen, Brian Thomason, Jory Tysdal, Chaz Woo, Dan Zumwalt and Tyler Zumwalt. The team is coached by Brent Edd and Jon Lindenauer.
• The Steel Lake Little League all-star baseball team lost their opening game of the 2008 Washington State Tournament Sunday in Mill Creek. Bainbridge Island downed the 11 and 12 year olds, 7-5, to earn a berth into the semifinals.
The loss knocked Steel Lake into the loser’s bracket, where they took on the winner of a game between South Skagit National and Redmond North last night (after press time). Steel Lake will now have to win seven-straight games to claim the state championship.
Steel Lake won the District 10 Tournament last week, which was the first step on the road to the Little League World Series. To qualify, an all-star team must win district, state and regional tournament titles.
The Steel Lake Little League all-star team includes Tommy Amato, Jesse Fite, Drew Huttenlocker, Jake Kolterman, Hunter McSwain, Mikey Jojica, Jacob Nugent, Zachary Lane, Alex Poltz, Jordan Price, Clayton Regehr and Eddie Sweeney. The team is coached by Rich Price, Dale Fite and Scott Kolterman.
There are 13 districts represented in the state tournament and the eventual winner will play in the Northwest Regional Tournament in San Bernardino, Calif.
• The Steel Lake Little League girls fastpitch team was knocked out of the 2008 Washington Major Softball State Tournament in Walla Walla on Thursday.
The 11 and 12 year olds lost to Sammamish Little League in the loser’s bracket final, 6-1, ending their season.
Stilly Valley went on to win the tournament by beating Sammamish in the final, 5-2. Stilly Valley knocked Steel Lake into the loser’s bracket with a 9-4 win over Steel Lake in the semifinals last week.
Steel Lake won their first two games at the Walla Walla Pacific Complex and didn’t allow a single run to earn the spot in the semifinals. Steel Lake beat host Walla Walla Pacific Little League in their opener, 15-0, and then downed South Highline/PacWest in the quarterfinals, 10-0.
The 2008 Steel Lake Little League faspitch all-star team included Annalise Campbell, Halle Colson, Madeline Colson, Shelina Crowl, Emilia Finnsson, Jasmin Fulmore, Katie Jackson, Emma Larsen, Lexis Pawlowski, Celine Woo, Alyssa Woods and Alysea Zaragoza. The team is managed by Terome Fulmore and coached by Mark Larsen.
• The Federal Way National 10-11 year old all star team lost their opening-round game at the 2008 Baseball State Tournament Sunday to Greater Richland Little League at Sunset Park in Auburn. The state tournament runs through July 27.
Federal Way National played a loser-out game Monday in Auburn against Northshore Little League (after press time).
The team includes Max Dalrymple, Garrett Westberg, Christian Stafford, Jon Charbonneau, Justyn Ekness, Lawyer Braun, Scott Sunitsch, Markus Montelongo, Dax Wallat, Taylor Davis, Zach Nunez, Donavan Castro and Brandon Henderson. The team is coached by Tim Robbins, Tomas Montelongo and Marcus Hudson.
Sports editor Casey Olson: 925-5565, sports@fedwaymirror.com
