By Gerardo Bolong
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Defensive lapses aided their opponents greatly in a West Seattle 8-4 winners bracket loss to District 10 Federal Way National at the 2014 Little League Majors baseball 11-12 ages All-Star 2014 state tournament held at West Seattle Bar-S Fields on Sun., July 13.

The loss sent the Westsiders into the perilous loser-out bracket where they must win out to claim the coveted berth to Western Regional action in San Bernardino, Calif. Next up was a Mon., July 14, game against District 11 Burlington Edison.

"This was a weird thing," said West Seattle manager Jason Woodward. "We played poorly on defense and didn't make the needed plays."

By the time West Seattle batted in the bottom of the second inning, Federal Way had claimed a 3-0 lead on one hit and two errors plus several wild pitches and passed balls.

With self-destruction on the immediate horizon, the home team West Seattle boys of summer clawed their way back into contention in the bottom of the second inning. Jackson Sullivan was hit by a pitch ahead of Max Debiec's walk. Paul Johnson followed with a single that bounced off the pitcher's mitt before the spinning ball bounced into the deep shortstop area for one run. During the same play series of events, Johnson advanced to second base on an error. Two wild pitches resulted in a West Seattle run ahead of a Jack Summers run-scoring single through the middle of the infield and the Westsiders drew even at 3-3.

District 10 pulled ahead for good in the top of the third frame by accumulating two runs on three hits for a 5-3 margin and added another run on a Nate Clow RBI in the fourth inning.

Muench singled in the bottom of the of the fifth frame before advancing to third after a wild pitch and ground out. A wild pitch enabled the West Seattle All-Star to reach home, matching FWN's single run that was scored in the top of the fifth. District 10 notched a final tally in the sixth to finish the game by scoring in every inning.