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.