AUBURN - District 7 Pac West received a rude introduction to the 2007 Washington State Senior (age 15-16) Little League Softball Tournament on Saturday, June 14, at their home field in SeaTac.

Capitalizing on PW pitcher control problems and errors in the field, the District 10 Fife-Auburn-Milton-Edgewood All Stars grabbed a slim early lead and continually built upon the margin before exploding to a 17-2 first round victory against PacWest.

The conglomerate known as FAME took care of business in the first inning by drawing five consecutive walks for two runs before PacWest fielding prowess provided a rare and thrilling triple play to cut off the possible cascading of runs.

Following the five walks, PW center fielder gloved a fly ball and threw to second base for what she thought would be an easy double play.

"I didn't know it was going to be a triple play," admitted Williams. "I had the easy double play. It (the triple play) was really hard to get and I was glad that I did it." Reacting quickly after receiving the throw from Williams, second baseman Leslie Rowden wheeled around to fire a strike to catcher Francesca Maipi.

"I just threw it home because I saw the girl running home," Rowen recalled.

After Maipi caught the throw from second base, the rest seemed easy.

"The person from third was running pretty slowly, so I knew I was able to get the tag out," was Maipi's view of the completed the triple play.

For the rest of the game, PacWest was left in the wake of FAME.

District 10 led 3-0 after two innings, but erupted for a four-run third on the strength of Jessica Colburn's three-run triple for a 7-0 lead.

PacWest tweaked the scoreboard for a lone tally in the bottom the same inning as the home team batters began making better contact with the pitches. Maipi's two-out RBI single following an infield error and a Jessica Childs single accounted for the tally.

Fife-Auburn-Milton-Edgewood struck for two runs in the top of the fifth before PacWest retaliated with its final run in the bottom of the same inning. Williams led off with a single. Childs advanced the runner on a ground out to third base just ahead of Maipi's run-scoring ground out to third base.

Leading, 9-2, FAME erupted for an eight-run sixth and shut out PW in the bottom of the frame to end the game after six innings based on the 10-run difference rule.

Maipi batted 2-for-3 with two RBI to lead the PacWest offense.

For a nine-person team being experienced in team tournaments and regular season, playing together in All Star competition without a district tournament was difficult.

"We kept it close most of the game, but it did get away from us a little bit," PW manager Steve McPike said. "A couple of errors and that takes it away from them. They did a good job. It's a core group, but when you add a few new players, it does take time to gel."

Representing Pac West at state are Senior Softball All Stars Lisa Anderson, Krista Childs, Alyssa Graham, Raquel Jordan, Cetera Lopez, Francesca Maipi, Maria Mulvihill, Leslie Rowden and Rachel Williams.

Manager McPike's coach is Dave Anderson.

9 and 10

South Highline National won its opener at the age 9-10 tournament in Vancouver with a win before bowing out with back-to-back losses.

National scored an 11-8 victory over Salmon Creek before losing to Eastlake, 8-2, and to South Everett, 13-3.

Junior softball

South Highline America earned its way into the state tournament and took the opportunity, even though it ended with two losses.

The Americans were edged by Sedro Woolley, 7-6, before being eliminated by North Bothell/North Shore by a 12-1 score.

Major softball

PacWest represented District 7 at the Majors age 10-2 girls tournament but also lost in two games.

Battle Ground scored an 11-0 victory over PacWest in the opener, then Bonney Lake/Sumner eliminated them, 8-1.

Big League

West Seattle lost two of three games in its state appearance in Port Orchard.

The team took its opener by a 5-1 score over District 8 before losing to District 4, 20-2. West Seattle was eliminated by the District 1 team, 22-17.