LITTLE LEAGUE SENIORS: Kent wins state crown

Jared Mackie couldn’t look up or around Saturday at Hartman Park in Redmond. Things were that crowded.

Yet, instinctively, the Kent sophomore-to-be knew this was what Little League baseball was all about.

“I was in the middle, right at the bottom of the dog pile,” explained Mackie, a shortstop for the Kent/Chinook Senior Little League All-Stars. “It hurt.”

But …

“It was a lot of fun,” Mackie finished.

Indeed it was. Behind Mackie’s big offensive performance and some clutch pitching from Harley Wood and Dalton Cryderman, the Kent Stars knocked off Redmond 9-4 to win the Senior (ages 14-16) Little League state championship.

Mackie went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and a solo home run.

“He just exploded,” said Kent/Chinook coach Kevin Vallala.

Meanwhile, Wood inherited a bases-loaded, first-inning jam and managed to escape a big Redmond rally to pitch 3 1/3 solid innings while Cryderman came in to shut the door, and pick up the victory.

With the win, Kent/Chinook not only pulled off a state championship, but also punched its ticket to the Western Regional tournament, which will be played from Aug. 3-10 in Ontario, Calif. Kent leaves for Ontario on Monday, Aug. 2 and will open play against the host team at 7 p.m. on Wednesday night (Aug. 4). The 10-team tournament will bring together the top 10 Senior Little League teams on the West coast (Kent, Montana, Alaska, North California, Hawaii, Arizona, Oregon, Nevada, South California and Ontario, Calif.

“I already told the guys that they really need to soak this in,” Vallala said. “All the teams will be staying in the same hotel, so the guys are excited to meet the other teams. The games will be great, and we’re going to compete. But this is really icing on the cake. I am going to be playing more people this time just so they can get the experience of all of this.”

No doubt, the Kent/Chinook team will be enjoying plenty of new experiences during the next two weeks.

For Mackie, that began in the win over Redmond. A sure-handed defender with speed to burn, Mackie hasn’t been known as a power threat at the plate.

That changed on Saturday, when Mackie ripped the first home run of his life, a shot down the left-field line that gave Kent a momentary 3-2 advantage in the fourth inning.

“I usually only hit high and inside pitches, and it was high and inside,” said Mackie, a 5-foot-8, 155-pound right-handed hitter. “When I hit the ball, it didn’t feel like I hit it super hard.”

Mackie set the tone in the top half of the first inning, working a walk to lead off the game. Garrett Robertson followed with a walk, setting the stage for Matt Nutting, who promptly singled to left field. Instead of plating just Mackie from second, Robertson came around all the way from first after a Redmond error, giving Kent a quick 2-0 lead.

That lead, however, wouldn’t last too long as Redmond plated a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning. The damage, however, could have been worse. Wood inherited a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the inning, and only surrendered a pair of runs to Redmond, escaping the frame with a 2-2 tie.

Mackie put Kent/Chinook on top 3-2 in the fourth with his blast to left field.

The lead, however, was short lived as Redmond plated a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning to go on top 4-3.

The back-and-forth championship game continued to follow suit in the top of the fifth, when Kent/Chinook pushed home two more runs to take a 5-4 lead. Cryderman singled home Sam Burtis to tie the game 4-4. Mike Mazzitelli knocked home Cryderman with the go-ahead run moments later with a fielder’s choice ground ball to second base.

The local Stars, however, didn’t shake Redmond, which it already had beaten once in the tournament, until the sixth inning.

And, as he did the entire game, Mackie got it started. This time, he opened the inning with a sharp single up the middle. Robertson followed with what appeared to be a routine pop out to right field that was misplayed, putting runners on first and second. Nutting then delivered a single that — following another Redmond outfield error — scored Mackie from second, giving Kent/Chinook a 6-4 lead. DJ Vallala then doubled home Robertson, pushing the lead to 7-4. Mazzitelli also added an RBI single in the four-run inning that gave Kent/Chinook a 9-4 lead.

With Cryderman in command on the mound, the five-run lead was in good hands.

“He was a big key to the game,” Vallala said of Cryderman. “He came in and settled things down.”

The win was the team’s fifth in a row, dating back to a 16-1 loss to Soundview/Steel Lake in the third round of the district tournament.

“I think that loss helped us,” Vallala said. “We knew we couldn’t be overconfident. I think it helped us know that we had to go out there right away and win that game.”

MEET THE TEAM

Games for the Kent/Chinook All-Stars can be followed at: www.littleleague.org/series/2010divisions/slbb/qualify/uswest.htm. Who’s heading to play in the Western Regional tournament? Here’s a look at the players who comprise the Kent/Chinook All-Stars: Riley Baker, Samuel Burtis, Dalton Cryderman, Ricky Davis, Matthew Dewald, Steven Hunt, Jared Mackie, Michael Mazzitelli, Matt Nutting, Dominic (DJ) Vallala, Harley Wood, David Prince, Garrett Robertson, Colby Thompson, Danny Fabris, Sean Pennington.