Five Bonney Lake/Sumner pitchers combined on a six-inning no hitter as BLS edged out Federal Way National Little League, 3-1, in the loser-out consolation final to eliminate the Nationals from further District 10 baseball 9-10 age All Star tournament play at the Federal Way National Little League Complex on Monday, June 21.
In a tournament rematch nearly devoid of hitting, the same characteristics that emerged in a previous 8-7 loss to BLS were again evident.
"This was a lower scoring game than the last time we played them, but the keys were similar," said National manager Kevin Fitzpatrick. "We hit the ball hard and they just made more plays than us. Our team played hard and I'm proud that we finished third out of 10 teams."
National loaded the bases on a walk and two misplayed fielder's choice ground balls with two outs in the first inning before failing to score.
In the fifth inning, the Nationals had their chance to strike back. Quin Hanson reached first base from the leadoff spot on a misplayed ground ball ahead of Tate Wallat's walk. After both base runners moved up one base on a wild pitch, Tyler Houston drew a base on balls to load the bases. Connor Keene drove home a run on an infield ground out. With the chance to tie or go ahead, the next two National batters grounded out to first base and struck out looking, respectively, to end an enormous opportunity.
Bonney Lake/Sumner scored its winning runs in the third inning without the benefits of base hits. Issued five walks by FWN pitcing, BLS also benefitted from two wild pitches and an infield throwing error to score its trio of runs. For the game, Bonney Lake/ Sumner managed only three hits.
Hanson was outstanding in a relief pitching role for the Nationals, hurling 3 1/3 innings of shutout ball and allowing two hits with six strkeouts.
"I just threw strikes with my fastball," he said. "We did better than last year and I got to play more."
Federal Way National opened the tournament by defeatingChinook before its loss to Bonney Lake/Sumner. National rallied to oust Auburn and Soundview before meeting up with Bonney Lake/Sumner again.
