Sarah Yamaura went 2/2 with 2 RBI. Great defense by Sydney Tomlinson with a diving catch in center field. Kaitlin Sahlinger went the distance.

 

Next game Sunday at 11am.

After a slow start, trailing 0-2 going into the 4th after Eastlake sole base hit of the game, Max Hibbert's 2 run home run with two outs in the 4th marked the turning point and a 5-run 5th inning, capped by William Mansfield's mammoth 2-run home run (over the SECOND fence), put MI over the top.  Keegan Ogard relieved Mansfield in the 6th and needed just 13 pitches to keep Eastlake's powerful lineup at bay close out the win with a strikeout and two groundouts to 3rd.  Hibbert, Mansfield and Michael Bantle all had two hits in the game for MI; Hibbert had an RBI double in the 5th and then scored on a Bantle single, who scored from 2nd on an RBI single by Nick Taylor for MI's final run. 

The Islanders play next in the winner's bracket final on Saturday at 9am vs. Sammamish National, who beat Kirkland National 5-3 on Wednesday in the other semi-final game.

The Bellevue Thunderbird/Mercer Island Majors Softball team won 12-3 Thursday night to win the district 9 title for the 2nd straight year.  They will defend their state 10-11 title beginning Saturday at 11am, against Sedro Wooley, at La Center Community Park near Vancouver, WA (state tournament bracket).

In the championship game against Falls LL, Clair McCarthy was 2/4 with 3 runs batted in.  Brooke Baumgartner was 1/3 with a triple and 2 RBI. Kat Wood pitched 6 innings to earn the win.  Coach Pat McCarthy said, "stellar defense and pitching kept us in the tournament and won it for us in the end".  The team allowed only 7 runs (0 earned) in 5 games, while scoring 42.

Congratulations, girls, and good luck defending your title at state!

July 16, 2009 – Top to bottom, left to right – (Manager) Pat McCarthy, Sydney Tomlinson, India Gants, Maggie Pana, Sarah Yamaura, Kaitlin Sahlinger, Brooke Baumgartner, Megan Page, Sydney Hopper, (Coach) Leslie Harris, (bottom row) Claire McCarthy, Kathryn Wood and Julia Blumenstein.

The MI/BT/BE All-stars have only lost to one team in 2 years - Sammamish - but have had the not-so-good luck of drawing them in the first round both years and for the second time this week, lost to them by a single run to finish 3rd in the District 9 Juniors All-star tournament. 

Sammamish scored 4 in the first inning on a flurry of seeing eye grounders and bleeding line drives and then 1 in the 2nd.  MI/BT/BE scored 3 in the 1st and 2 in the 2nd to tie it, but Sammamish got another in the 3rd, and we just couldn't get any solid hits off their #1 pitcher after that, so that run held up for a 6-5 Sammamish win.

Caitlin Sahlinger throws CG one-hitter, but it wasn't enough, so the "THin MInts" will have to go at it again on Thursday, also at 6pm at Eastlake HS.