Baseball 

The NW regional tournament bracket can be found at:  http://www.littleleague.org/series/2009divisions/llbb/qualify/northwest.htm.

Mercer Island will play:

• Oregon, on Saturday, Aug. 8 (won 10-0, 4 innings)
• Wyoming, on Sunday, Aug. 9 (won 12-0, 4 innings)
• Montana, on Monday, Aug. 10 (won 13-1, 4 innings)
• Idaho, on Wednesday, Aug. 12 (won 12-2, 5 innings)

• Semi-finals vs. Alaska, Aug. 13 (won 15-1, 4 innings)
   
• NW Regional Championship vs. Oregon on Saturday, Aug. 15th (won 8-3)

Mercer Island advances to the Little League Baseball World Series in Williamsport, PA, Aug. 21-30.

Softball

The Western regional tournament bracket can be found at:  http://www.littleleague.org/series/2009divisions/llsb/qualify/uswest.htm.

The Thunderbird/MI team plays:

• Montana, on Sunday, Aug. 2 (won 10-5)
• Southern California, on Tuesday, Aug. 4 (won, 6-4)
• Arizona, on Thursday, Aug. 6 (won 1-0)
• Idaho, on Friday, Aug. 7  (won 4-3, extra innings)

Semi-Finals:  Saturday, Aug. 8 at 2pm vs. Northern California (lost, 2-1)

Consolation Game:  Sunday, Aug. 9 at 11am - Washington vs. Southern California (lost 6-3 to finish 4th)

Championship:  Sunday, Aug. 9 at 2pm - Alaska vs. Northern California 

Regional champion advances to the Little League Softball World Series, in Portland, OR, Aug. 13-19.

Michael Bantle's single in the bottom of the 7th inning to score Aidan Plummer for the winning run capped the 3rd come-from-behind-win in a row to power Mercer Island's 11-12 All-stars to the Washington State Little League Baseball championship and a berth in the Northwest Regional tournament in San Bernardino, CA, Aug. 7-15, for a chance to play in the 2009 Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA.

L-R:  Manager Steve Stenberg, David Emanuels, Brandon Lawler, Keegan Ogard, Josh Stenberg, Max Hibbert, William Mansfield, Michael Bantle, Nick Taylor, Coach Brock Mansfield, Anthony Scalzo, Aidan Plummer, Assistant Coach Anne Emanuels, and Sam Pugel.

Keegan Ogard pitched 4-2/3s scoreless innings, striking out 8, while matching Pasco's ace pitch-for-pitch, before hitting his 85-pitch limit with 2 outs in the top of the 5th inning, before Pasco singled in 2 unearned runs to take a 2-0 lead.  But in the bottom of the 6th, Ogard tied it with a huge 2-run Home Run to give Mercer Island new life:

Brandon Lawler hit a grand slam home run in the 1st and Keegan Ogard added a 2-run blast in the 3rd

to power Mercer Island to a 7-0 lead Friday night, but Pasco National roared back late in the game to tie the game in the top of the 6th and force extra innings.  Clutch pitching by Max Hibbert in the 7th and 8th innings, 

and some key defensive plays allowed Mercer Island to earn a dramatic 8-7 win with 2 outs in the bottom of the 8th inning:

Michael Bantle scoring from 2nd after Pasco's second baseman can handle Brandon Lawler's grounder  

For the game, Brandon Lawler had 5 RBI on 1 hit and 2 walks; William Mansfield was 2/4 with a double, and he walked and scored; Michael Bantle had a hit, walked twice and scored 3 runs, including the game winner; Keegan Ogard had a hit for 2RBI; David Emanuels also had a hit and walked and scored twice.  Max Hibbert earned the win in relief, pitching the final 1-2/3's innings without allowing a run.

Mercer Island will play the winner of Saturday's game between Pasco National and Bainbridge Island (who won 7-1 on Thursday and 22-12 on Friday to stay alive following their 4-3 loss to Mercer Island on Tuesday).  The winner will have to beat Mercer Island twice on Sunday to deny MI the state championship and a trip to San Bernardino for the LL regional tournament. 

Link to Tournament bracket and live video webcast of state tournament games.

More photos of Friday's game, courtesy David Ogard.

Michael Bantle's diving catch of a line drive in the 3rd and Anthony Scalzo's walk-off double in the bottom of the 6th highlighted Mercer Island's come from behind 4-3 win over a strong team from Bainbridge Island, and helped MI reach the winner's bracket finals on Friday at 7:30pm.

Here's the final play:

Keegan Ogard started off strong on the mound for MI, striking out 5 Bainbridge batters in the first two innings, but Bainbridge loaded the bases to start the 3rd inning with two hits and a walk before Ogard struck out his 6th victim to get the first out of the 3rd inning.  Bainbridge took a 2-0 lead however on two more walks before Michael Bantle ended the threat with a diving stab of a hard line drive up the middle, saving at least two more runs.  Bainbridge went down 1-2-3 in the 4th on 2 more strikeouts by Ogard, and then Brandon Lawler halved their lead in the bottom of the 4th with a long solo home run over the right field fence.  MI got two more runners on in the bottom of the 4th when Max Hibbert walked and Keegan Ogard singled, but was unable to score them.  Ogard recorded his 9th strikeout of the game in the top of the 5th before hitting his 85-pitch limit and yielding the mound to Brandon Lawler, who closed out the inning with a blistering 3 pitch strikeout.  In the bottom of the 5th, MI erased the Bainbridge lead when Michael Bantle walked, stole 2nd and then scored on a fly ball hit to left by David Emanuels which Bainbridge's left fielder couldn't handle.  Another long fly ball by Brandon Lawler nearly cleared the fence to break the game open, but was caught at the warning track to end the inning. 

In the top of the 6th, Bainbridge flied out to RF, but then re-took the lead with a long home run to center field, before ending the inning with a ground out to SS and another strikeout, Lawler's 2nd and the 11th overall for MI.  In the bottom of the 6th, down 3-2, Max Hibbert led off the inning with a hard fought walk, and was quickly joined by Keegan Ogard with another walk, before Anthony Scalzo smacked them both home with a long double off the left center wall.

For the game, Brandon Lawler finished 2/3 with a home run; Josh Stenberg singled; Michael Bantle singled and scored, with David Emanuels earning the RBI; Keegan Ogard singled, walked and scored the game winning run; Max Hibbert walked twice and scored the tying run; and Anthony Scalzo was 1/2 with 2RBI on his double.  Keegan Ogard finished with 9 strikeouts and held Bainbridge to 2 runs on 3 hits in 4-2/3 innings.  Brandon Lawler struck out 2 and allowed 1 run on 1 hit in 1-1/3 innings, while earning the win in relief.

Mercer Island plays next on Friday night at 7:30pm in the winner's bracket finals against Pasco National (12-0 winners over West Seattle on Wednesday), with the winner advancing to Sunday's state championship game.

Link to Tournament bracket and live video webcast of state tournament games.

William Mansfield struck out 14 batters in 5-2/3's innings, without allowing a base hit, before hitting his 85 pitch limit and giving way to Brandon Lawler who struck out the final South Skagit batter to complete the combined no-hitter, in a 4-0 win at the Little League All-star state tournament.

South Skagit's pitcher, Nolan Zimmer, who threw a 4-inning no-hitter himself during their district tournament, threw another excellent game against the Islanders' usually high scoring line-up, holding MI at bay for 3 innings before walks by Keegan Ogard and Sam Pugel and a nice bunt single by David Emanuels loaded the bases in the 4th, with walks by Josh Stenberg and Michael Bantle scoring Ogard and Pugel.  Brandon Lawler led off the 5th with a double, and then scored on an RBI double by Keegan Ogard, who scored on a sacrifice bunt by Nick Taylor.   Ogard and Emanuels each hit doubles and went 2 for 3 in the game; Ogard also scored twice and batted in another run.  Mansfield, Bantle, Lawler and Max Hibbert also had hits during the game.   

The Islanders' next game is on Tuesday against the All-stars from the other Island - Bainbridge, champions of host district 2 - at 7:30pm, in Port Orchard.  The Bainbridge team - coached by former Mercer Islander, Doug McCombs - is 2-0 following a come-from-behind 8-5 win over Kent LL on Saturday and a 4-0 over Richmond on Sunday.

Through 6 games, David Emanuels and William Mansfield lead the Islander hitters with .600 batting averages.  Emanuels leads with a .684 on-base percentage, 1.067 Slugging percentage, and 1.751 OPS, followed closely by Mansfield (.667 on-base %, .900 slugging, and 1.567 OPS) and Hibbert (1.056 Slugging and 1.627 OPS).  Mansfield leads with 13 runs batted in, followed by Josh Stenberg with 10, and Emanuels and Hibbert at 9 each.  As a team the Islanders have a .508 on-base average, with 10 of 11 players above .400.  The Islander pitching trio of William Mansfield, Keegan Ogard and Brandon Lawler have allowed just 6 runs (5 earned) on 12 hits in 6 games, for a combined ERA of just 1.00, and have struck out 62 opposing batters, led by Mansfield with 43 Ks in 18-2/3s innings.  Collectively, the Islanders have outscored their opponents 70-6 so far.   

Link to Tournament bracket and live video webcast of state tournament games.

More photos, courtesy David Ogard.