Hard hitting and superlative pitching teamed up to give the West Seattle (WS) D-Rays a 15-0 four-inning victory against the South Highline National (SHN) Angels in the championship game of the 2009 District 7 Little League baseball Majors Tournament of Champions Monday, June 22.

"We can win games this way or win close games," stated WS manager John Mackenzie of his all-around and talented contingent. "We won three one-run games in a row to win our league."

In regular season play, West Seattle played to a 15-0-1 record before going 4-1 in the league tournament. Following an Anthony Coats 1-0 shutout of Rainier, the D-Rays sidelined South Highline American 10-0 in four innings en route to the defeat of South Highline to finish at 22-1-1.

On Monday night West Seattle forged four runs on two hits, two walks and an error to grab the lead before SHN came to bat.

Cameron Slader's two-run homer keyed a four-run WS uprising in the second inning before WS stormed for another quartet of runs in the third inning. David Meehan blasted a solo home run as part of the attack.

In the top of the fourth inning, Slader struck again on a two-run home run blast over the center field fence to ignite a three-run inning. The entire lineup from WS pitched in for the shelling of South Highline.

As the offense pounded out 14 hits,  right-handed hurler Kevin Simmons posted goose egg after goose egg on a variety of pitches and deliveries, allowing only a fourth inning line drive single to Haden Pierce in the fourth and two walks. Simmons also punched out five strikeouts.

"We had eight new kids this season," said South Highline assistant coach Jim Triplett. "In my 13 years of coaching I'm as proud of this group as I have been of any I've coached. There were issues at the start of the season, but the team has come a long way from where they were to get here. We were a little short handed on pitching because we felt we had to use our best pitcher ( Jeremy Hoefer) in our game against the Pac West Angels."

Jeremy Hoefer pitched National past Seattle Central in the opener on a 1-0 two-hitter that included 11 strikeouts. Cormac Thornton singled home what would prove to be the game-winning RBI in the bottom of the fifth inning.

"I came out and pitched like I wanted to," Hoefer stated. "I guess it worked. For my pitches I pretty much used the fast ball, change up and curve."

The Braves then had to subdue Pac West, 7-4, to reach the championship round. Pierce was the winning pitcher with assistance from Hoefer.

For the West Seattle D-Rays, the player roster includes Alex Mackenzie, Cameron Slader, David Meehan, Kevin Simmons, Alex Coats, Griffin Bills, Austin Hau, Anthony Coats, Moran Higgins, Cameron Paskett and James Morrison.

Assisting manager Mackenzie are coaches John Coats and Steve Meehan.

South Highline National players include Austin Prkut, Ben Malmanger, Brady Tomlinson, Cormac Thornton, Daniel Inman, Haiden Pierce, Jared Scott, Jeremy Hoefer, Keegan Jordan, Michael Noriega, Ryan Boyd and Sumner Shorey.

Jeff Wentz is the manager. Shaun Daum, David Scoot and Jim Triplett are the assistant coaches.