After a 15-0 run through district, state and regionals, the Mercer Island Little League All-stars suffered their first loss of the summer, 10-2, against the Mid-Atlantic region and New York state champions from South Staten National Little League, in the opening game of the 2009 Little League World Series.

Mercer Island started the game strong, with William Mansfield striking out the first 3 batters he faced.  In the bottom of the 1st, Michael Bantle singled and Mansfield doubled to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out, but a strikeout and groundout to SS stranded them there, quelching an early scoring opportunity for MI.  Mid-Atlantic got runners to 2nd and 3rd in the top of the 2nd on an infield single, walk and wild pitch, but they were also stranded there on groundout to SS.  Anthony Scalzo singled in the bottom of the 2nd, but a strikeout and 2 fielder's choices ended the inning still 0-0.

In the 3rd, Mid-Altantic's leadoff batter reached on an error at 1st.  The next batter lined a would-be single to right field, but Brandon Lawler gunned him out at 1st for the first out.  The next batter singled to left field, scoring one, and then scored himself on a long home run to right center field, which put MA up 3-0 before a groundout to short and another to the pitcher ended the inning. Mercer Island went down in order in the bottom of the 3rd.

In the 4th, Mid-Atlantic led off with a double before Mansfield's 5th strikeout, but then singled, doubled, tripled and singled again, to score 4 before goundouts to short and 2nd finally ended the half-inning with the Northwest down 7-0.   A single by Max Hibbert in the bottom of the 4th wasn't enough to overcome 3 more NW strikouts, ending the 4th down 7-0.

Mid-Atlantic inflicted more damage in the 5th, leading off with 3 singles and a bases loaded walk to go up 8-0.  Another run crossed on a passed ball, and a 3rd on a sacrifice fly to left field, leaving MA up 10-0 in the middle of the 5th.

Nick Taylor led off the bottom of the 5th with a single, but a fielder's choice and a strikeout left Mercer Island one strike away from a mercy rule defeat before Michael Bantle singled Taylor in for the Northwest's first run of the game.

In the 6th, Brandon Lawler and Josh Stenberg combined for a scoreless inning on the mound for MI. In the bottom, Aidan Plummer reached on error and Brandon Lawler singled, and then advanced on a grounder to the pitcher.  Plummer scored on a wild pitch to make the score 10-2, but that was all we could muster before two more MA strikeouts ended the inning and the game.

For the game, Michael Bantle was 2/3.  William Mansfield doubled; Brandon Lawler, Max Hibbert, Anthony Scalzo and Nick Taylor singled.  William Mansfield allowed 7 runs (6 earned) on 7 hits in 4 innings; Max Hibbert 3 runs on 2 hits.  Lawler and Stenberg allowed no hits and no runs in 2 combined innings.

The Northwest team is back in action on Sunday, Aug. 23 at 9am PDT, against the Midwest region and Iowa state champions from Urbanville LL (10-3 losers on Friday to the Southeast region champions from Warner Robbins LL of Georgia).  The Northwest's final pool game is on Monday, at 1pm PDT, against Warner Robbins.

Mercer Island, representing the Northwest Region, will play:

• Friday, Aug. 21, at 10am PDT, vs. Mid-Atlantic (South Staten Island National LL, New York): lost 10-2
• Sunday, Aug. 23, at 9am PDT, vs. Midwest (Urbandale LL, Iowa):  Lost 5-3
• Monday, Aug. 24, at 1pm PDT, vs. Southeast (Warner Robbins American LL, Georgia):  Lost 3-2

All games will be televised live on ESPN.

If we win our pool, we will play in the U.S. semi-finals on Thursday, Aug. 27th at 5pm PDT.  If we finish 2nd, we will play in the semi-finals on Wednesday, Aug. 26th at 5pm PDT.  The U.S. Championship game will be played on Saturday, Aug. 29th, at 12 noon PDT, on ABC.  The World Series Championship will be played on Sunday, Aug. 30th, at 12:30pm PDT, on ABC.

Complete schedule:  http://www.littleleague.org/series/2009divisions/llbb/series.htm.

The Washington state champions from Mercer Island Little League racked up their 5th consecutive mercy rule win on Thursday, beating the Alaska state champions from Sitka Little League 15-1 in 4 innings, to advance to the NW Regional Little League Championship game, which will be played on Saturday at 6pm and televised nationally on ESPN.  The winner of that game will advance to the Little League World Series beginning Aug. 21 in Williamsport, PA.

Washington jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the 1st when Josh Stenberg walked and then scored on a triple by William Mansfield.  Keegan Ogard batted him in and then scored himself on a passed ball.  Stenberg hit a solo home run in the 2nd to put Washington up 4-0, the 8th Mercer Island player to homer since all-star play began.

Washington added five more in the 3rd, when Max Hibbert, Anthony Scalzo and Michael Bantle walked; Josh Stenberg singled, scoring two; Mansfield and Ogard walked, scoring Bantle; and then Stenberg and Mansfield scored on a single by Brandon Lawler.   In the 4th, Nick Taylor and Anthony Scalzo were both hit by pitches, with Taylor scoring on a single by Sam Pugel; Michael Bantle reached on an error by the Alaska shortstop, and then all of them scored on a Grand Slam home run by William Mansfield.  Keegan Ogard doubled and then scored on a back-to-back double by Brandon Lawler to cap the Islanders scoring.

Keegan Ogard earned the win pitching for Washington, allowing just 1 run - a solo home run in the bottom of the 4th - on 2 hits, while striking out 4.

Semi-finals highlights:

For the game, Josh Stenberg finished 2/3 with a walk a home run and 3 runs scored.  William Mansfield was 3/3 with a walk, triple, grand slam home run, 3 runs scored and 5 RBI.  Keegan Ogard was 1/2 with a double, 2 walks, 2 RBI and 2 runs.  Brandon Lawler was 2/4 with a double and 3 RBI.  Sam Pugel was 1/1 with an RBI and scored a run.

In 5 games at Regionals, Washington has won all 5 by 10-run mercy rule, while outscoring their opponents by a combined 62-4.

Mercer Island closed out pool play with their 4th straight mercy rule win, 12-2 in 5 innings over the Idaho state champions from Post Falls LL.  Mercer Island will play the Alaska state champions from Sitka LL  in the NW Regional semi-finals on Thursday at 7:30pm.

After 2 scoreless innings, Mercer Island took advantage of two Idaho fielding errors in the 3rd to score 5 runs on a single by Keegan Ogard, a 2-run double by Max Hibbert and a 2-run Home Run by Anthony Scalzo:

Mercer Island added 3 more in the 4th when David Emanuels led off with a double, Josh Stenberg walked, Nick Taylor hit an RBI single, Sam Pugel singled to left to load the bases and Keegan Ogard hit a 2-run double to make it 8-0.  Idaho got one back in the bottom of the 4th when a runner scored from 2nd on a wild pitch, but their hopes were quickly dashed in the top of the 5th when David Emanuels and Nick Taylor walked, Sam Pugel loaded the bases with a bunt, and then Brandon Lawler unloaded them with a grand slam home run to put Washington up 12-1.  Idaho picked up one unearned run in the 5th, but coudn't get another run across to push MI to a full 6-inning game.  Keegan Ogard, Josh Stenberg, Brandon Lawler and William Mansfield pitched for Washington, collectively allowing 1 earned run on 3 singles and 3 walks, with all but Stenberg staying under 20 pitches to preserve their elibility for the semi-finals. 

Keegan Ogard and Max Hibbert each finished the game 2-4 with a run scored and 2 RBI, Hibbert with two doubles and Ogard with one.  Anthony Scalzo was 1-2 with 2 RBI on his home run.  Sam Pugel was 1-1, and reached on a bunt and scored once.  Nick Taylor was 1-2 with an RBI and scored twice.  David Emanuels was 1-2 with a double and run scored.  Lawler had 4RBI on his home run.

Game 4 photos by David Ogard

The Mercer Island All-stars, now representing Washington State, have yet to play a full 6-inning game at Regionals, but have have still locked up the #1 seed for Thursday's semi-finals, with their 3rd straight dominating win, this time by a score of 13-1 over the Montana state champions from Boulder-Arrowhead Little League.

Max Hibbert got the start for the Islanders on the mound and pitched an outstanding game, allowing just one run (unearned) on one hit, while striking out 3 batters with 41 pitches in 3 innings.  Hibbert was aided by solid defense, including a nice catch in foul territory by left fielder Sam Pugel.

The Islanders opened a 1-0 lead in the 1st when Michael Bantle walked and scored on a series of Montana wild pitches, but were held scoreless in the second.  David Emanuels led off the top of the 3rd with a single to left, which was followed by four straight walks by Josh Stenberg, Michael Bantle, William Mansfield and Keegan Ogard.  Brandon Lawler then knocked in two more with an RBI double to left field; Max Hibbert was hit by pitch; Anthony Scalzo reached base when the Montana first baseman pulled his foot off the bag; David Emanuels drove in two more with a double to left center, his second hit of the inning; Josh Stenberg singled up the middle; Bantle singled to right, and then stole home (again) on another wild pitch.  Four more walks by a series of Montana pitchers scored Keegan Ogard before the 18th MI batter of the inning popped out to 1st for the final out.

Brandon Lawler relieved Hibbert in the 4th and retired Montana in order on 18 pitches to wrap up the mercy rule win.

Game 3 Highlights:

Mercer Island has Tuesday off and then plays their last pool game, against Idaho, on Wednesday at 4:30pm, before the semi-finals on Thursday at 7:30pm (opponent TBD).

More Game 3 photos from David Ogard