July 2014

By Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

Pac West's 10-11 All Stars opened their District 7 Little League Tournament play with a 9-3 victory over Renton at Pac West Fields Saturday.

Pac West Manager Mitch Stone highlighted his pitchers who threw in this game. Five of them. River Garza, Michael Snyder, Hunter Hillyard, Max Volle and Jacob Sagmoen.

"River started it, under 20 pitches, then, Michael, under 20 pitches, and Hunter, under 20 pitches, Max, under 20 pitches, and Jacob under 20 pitches."

"Under 20 pitches" are important words in Little League baseball for 10-11 year olds.

If a pitcher throws under 20 pitches per game, they can still pitch in the next game. That means that Pac West will have a lot of fresh arms for it's next game in All Stars for this 10 and 11 year old age group of boys, which, not so coincidentally, was the very next day. Good strategy, indeed, when strong pitching counts in this tournament to go far.

Stone's team was down early against Renton, but it wasn't something to worry about.

"No," he said. "It was too close longer than I liked."

By Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

Everything went just the way things should. Pitchers pitched well, hitters hit well, even a home run as well, and South Highline National beat West Seattle, 6-5, in Little League All Stars Intermediate action at the Pac West Fields Saturday.

Intermediate age kids are 11 to 13 in between the 10-11 All Stars and the Juniors All Stars aged kids who are 13 and 14 years old.

And now moving on will be South Highline National to Monday's 6 p.m. championship game, playing West Seattle again.

West Seattle must beat South Highline National twice to upend them from being the Intermediate state qualifying team from District 7.
In this game, South Highline National expected a good battle from West Seattle.

"We win by one or they win by one," said Pat Adams, National's manager.
Except for the regular season game, one where your son, Payton, said you were 10-runned by West Seattle?

"Yeah, exactly," said Adams. "They handed it to us."

By Chuck Mingori
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

The weather held up long enough Saturday morning for West Seattle to defeat PacWest 10-0 in opening round District 7 Little League Majors age 11-12 baseball action at Tyee.

West Seattle came out swinging early on and never really let up.
“We have some pretty dangerous bats but we haven’t been hitting the ball all so well lately. It was nice to see some of the guys square it up. We can be dangerous at the plate and we have a pretty deep pitching staff so if they compete every pitch and show up ready to play, I think good things could happen. But it’s one game at a time,” said West Seattle manager Jason Woodward.

“That’s a really good team,” commented PacWest Manager Paul Kemp. “They hit the ball top to bottom in their line up. It was a tough draw. They put the ball right up the middle a lot so it wasn’t like our kids were throwing the ball around and committing errors, they were legit base hits top to bottom.”

West Seattle is scheduled to play Seattle Central at noon Sunday while PacWest is playing Monday at 6 pm needing a win to stay alive in the tournament.

By Gerardo Bolong
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Late innings hitting powered the Pac West Little League Majors All-Stars to a 6-1 loser-out win against South Highline National Mon., June 30, in the District 7 baseball tournament.

"We had good hitting," observed Pac West manager Paul Kemp. "Our kids were really swinging the bat tonight. Our center fielder Blaine Patten was covering ground and ranging all over. We practiced on turf, yesterday, and the team fet good. Our battery was great. John (Kemp) called a great game and Kayla (Siler) pitched a great game."

After opening the tournament with a tough 1-0 loss to West Seattle, the rejuvenated Pac West All-Stars will play the winner of the Renton-Seattle Central game in another loser-out match up on Thurs., July 3.
South Highline was initially knocked into the loser-out round by way of a 7-3 loss to Rainier.

By Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

After surviving a grueling 12-11 win the night before in the first championship, West Seattle thrived in the if-necessary Little League All Stars District 7 Intermediate Tournament championship game, beating South Highline Naitonal, 14-1, at Pac West Fields Tuesday.

State is next for West Seattle, starting July 5 at District 1 in Snohomish.

"Unexpected" was the word West Seattle manager Dave Douglas said after beating National by such a lopsided score.

These two teams played close games the last four meetings, including the regular season. West Seattle won by one or two runs or West Seattle lost by the same close scores.

So this turnout of such a big game, for all the marbles, was a surprise to Douglas.

"We've always battled them close every game," he said. "But when a team gets going the wrong way, a lot of things can go wrong."

West Seattle went down to an 11-1 defeat at the hands of Pac West in the provisional championship game of the District 7 age 10-11 Little League baseball tournament Tuesday. That forces an if-necessary championship at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Burien's Pac West complex.

The winner will take home the tournament trophy and the state tournament berth that goes with it.
Pac West scored 11 runs in the first inning Tuesday, then cruised to the win in a game stopped after the fourth inning by a 10-run rule.

Pac West came in as the loser's bracket team, meaning it had to beat West Seattle twice to take the title.
The 10-11 state tournament will be played in Chehalis.

information from Seattle Parks

Many Seattle Parks and Recreation facilities will be closed Friday, July 4, for Independence Day or on special holiday schedules.

These facilities and services are CLOSED:
· Community centers
· Environmental learning centers
· Indoor swimming pools
· Amy Yee Tennis Center
· Green Lake Small Craft Center

These facilities are OPEN on regular schedules:
· Golf courses
· Boat ramps
· Beaches
· Wading pools (Bitter Lake, Cal Anderson, EC Hughes, Green Lake, Hiawatha, Lincoln Park, Magnuson Park, Van Asselt, Volunteer, Wallingford)

These facilities are OPEN on special schedules:
· Volunteer Park Conservatory, open 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
· Outdoor swimming pools:
Mounger Pool will be on special holiday schedule: http://www.seattle.gov/parks/aquatics/Pools/mounger/schedule.htm
Colman Pool is on a regular Friday schedule: http://www.seattle.gov/parks/aquatics/Pools/colman/schedule.htm

In a letter to the community on July 1, BJ Myers who has served as White Center's Storefront Deputy since 2011 is leaving that role for a new assignment. The Herald profiled Deputy Myers last year.

Dear White Center,
After three years in the White Center Storefront I have been selected for a new assignment on patrol. I will work White Center, Vashon, and Skyway and be more involved in the training of new deputies. I am very excited to start this new challenge and grateful for the opportunity to serve White Center for the last few years.

information from the Service Board

After eight years at the Service Board, Ashley is ready to pursue new opportunities as the Service Board seeks new leadership for the next decade.

Ashley Miller, Executive Director of the Service Board (tSB) since 2008, has announced that she will step down this fall. After months of thoughtful insight and intentional planning by the Board and Staff, the Service Board is excited to seek a new leader for their unique programming model.

In her letter to the tSB community Ashley shares, “In my 8 years at tSB, I have received incredible mentorship, learned hard and soft skills and have developed deep relationships. Together, we have conquered mountains – literally and figuratively - and have had a tremendous amount of fun. Today we are stronger than ever, and it is because of our community.” Ashley’s future plans include traveling and seeking new and exciting roles to continue her passion for her community.

By Gerardo Bolong
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Late innings hitting powered the Pac West Little League Majors All-Stars to a 6-1 loser-out win against South Highline National Monday in the District 7 baseball tournament.

"We had good hitting," observed Pac West manager Paul Kemp. "Our kids were really swinging the bat tonight. Our center fielder Blaine Patten was covering ground and ranging all over. We practiced on turf, yesterday, and the team felt good. Our battery was great. John (Kemp) called a great game and Kayla (Siler) pitched a great game."

After opening the tournament with a tough 1-0 loss to West Seattle, the rejuvenated Pac West All-Stars will play the winner of the Renton-Seattle Central game in another loser-out match up on Thurs., July 3.

South Highline was initially knocked into the loser-out round by way of a 7-3 loss to Rainier.