Photo of all the teams assembled on field:

Mariners DH Mike Sweeney speaking to the players:

Mercer Island capped a 5-0 run through the District 9 tournament with a 17-1 win over the 2-time defending state champions from Eastlake to win the district 9 Majors baseball championship.  Mercer Island now advances to the state Little League tournament in Port Orchard, WA and will play on Sunday at 2:30 (following a first round bye).

Left to Right:  Nick Taylor, Brandon Lawler, Anthony Scalzo, Manager Steve Stenberg, David Emanuels, Josh Stenberg, William Mansfield, Michael Bantle, Coach Brock Mansfield, Sam Pugel, Keegan Ogard, Aidan Plummer and Max Hibbert.

In the championship game, William Mansfield was dominating on the mound, striking out 9 batters in 4 innings, allowing just 1 run on 4 hits.  Mercer Island scored one in the first inning on an RBI single by Brandon Lawler, and then broke the game open with 8 runs in the 3rd inning.  Anthony Scalzo started off the scoring barrage with a 2-run home run, which was followed by 5 straight hits and a walk to put MI up 9-0.  Mercer Island scored another 8 runs in the 4th, capped by Max Hibbert's grand slam home run.  Hibbert ended the game 3/4 with 4 RBI and a double and scored 3 times.  Josh Stenberg also had 4 RBI in a 2/4 performance.  Mansfield, David Emanuels and Brandon Lawler were all 2/2 at the plate, and Sam Pugel and Keegan Ogard also recorded hits in the game.

For the tournament, William Mansfield led the Islanders hitters with a .647 batting average, with Max Hibbert right behind at .643, followed by David Emanuels at .583 and Sam Pugel at .571.  Manfield, Emanuels and Hibbert also lead with on-base percentages of .700, .688 and .647, respectively.  Those three also lead the team with slugging percentages over 1.000, topped by Hibbert at 1.286.  Mansfield leads the team with 13 runs batted in, followed by Hibbert, Emanuels and Josh Stenberg, with 9 apiece.  Hibbert, Mansfield, Emanuels and Brandon Lawler all hit 2 home runs in the district tournament.  As a team, the Islanders batted .436 with an on-base average of .521.  The Islander pitching trio of William Mansfield, Keegan Ogard and Brandon Lawler allowed just 6 runs on 6 hits and 9 walks in 24 total innings for a combined ERA of just 1.25, led by Ogard's ERA of 0.72.  Mansfield was the winning pitcher in 3 of the Islanders' 5 wins, while leading in strikeouts (29!) and innings (13).

David Emanuels and Keegan Ogard hit solo home runs and Josh Stenberg hit a bases loaded single to score the go ahead runs to break a 2-2 tie in the 5th.  Keegan Ogard pitched 5-2/3 stong innings before giving way to Brandon Lawler, who closed out the win with a 3-pitch strikeout.

More photos by David Ogard.

So far in the tournament, William Mansfield, Max Hibbert and Sam Pugel lead the team with .600 batting averages; Josh Stenberg and Mansfield lead with on-base percentages of .625.  Hibbert and David Emanuels lead with 1.100 slugging percentages, and 1.715 OPS.  Manfield leads with 13 runs batted in followed by Emanuels with 7.  Islander pitchers Mansfield, Ogard and Lawler have allowed just 5 runs (only 4 earned) on 8 hits in 20 innings for a team ERA of 1.20, and have struck out 38 opposing batters, led by Mansfield with 20 Ks.

The team plays a rematch with Eastlake in the district 9 championship game on Monday at 6pm at Hidden Valley park in Bellevue.  

Link to Tournament Bracket.