Followup: West Seattle Little League seniors headed for state!

(From left, back row: Manager Vinnie Sposari, Coach John Coats, Buick MacNamara, Larry Jensen, Merle Rowan-Kennedy, John Roach, Cody Jones, Geoffrey Wukelic, Coach Fred Jensen. Front row: Alex Coats, Joey Werlech, Daniel “DJ” Kemp, Vinnie Sposari, Jack Larsen, Jayme Kelly. Photo by Lisa Roach)
A victory last night in Seatac means a state-tournament spot for the West Seattle Little League‘s most veteran players. This report is courtesy of Cami MacNamara:

West Seattle Little League’s Seniors Division Team (ages 15-16) has advanced to the Little League Seniors State Tournament in Mount Vernon on July 16th with a 3-2 win over South Highline Nationals.

The District 7 tournament was hosted at PacWest and West Seattle lost their first game on Sunday, July 1st to South Highline. This placed West Seattle in a must-win situation in double elimination play. They played again on Tuesday, July 3rd, winning 4-3 over Renton, and then handed South Highline their first loss on July 4th, winning 4-3 in extra innings, which forced a rematch last night.

West Seattle was home team, and pitcher Larry Jensen, supported by a strong defense, got the game started the top of the 1st with only 7 pitches. In the bottom of the 1st, lead-off batter Jack Larsen walked, stole second, and was brought in with an RBI single by pitcher Jensen. West Seattle led 1-0.

The game remained tied until the top of the 4th when South Highline pitcher Jimi Fay hit a solo home run to tie the game at 1-1. In the bottom of the 5th, left fielder Joey Werlech walked and three bats later, second baseman Vinnie Sposari hit an RBI single to bring in Werlech. West Seattle was now up 2-1.

In a final attempt to tie the game, South Highline second baseman Jorge Esqueda hit a single. Larry Jensen then struck out a batter and that was followed by an out at first. With 2 outs, South Highline’s first baseman Ryan Macri then hit an RBI single to bring in Esqueda across the plate for a 2-2 tie. Joey Werlech was brought in to relief pitch and the final out was made by shortstop Alex Coats, throwing South Highline’s batter out at first.

With one last shot before extra innings, West Seattle first baseman Geoffrey Wukelic hit a solid double. Pitch runner DJ Kemp came in for Wukelic. The next two batters flied out to center field, and lead-off batter Jack Larsen ended the game with an RBI single. DJ Kemp slid head first into home plate for the photo finish, beating the throw home and securing the 3-2 victory in the bottom of the 7th.

West Seattle will now play on July 16th at Sherman Anderson Field in Mount Vernon at 1 pm. Follow all tournament results on website, Facebook, and/or Twitter.

Congratulations and good luck!

2 Replies to "Followup: West Seattle Little League seniors headed for state!"

  • Cami July 7, 2012 (1:32 pm)

    PINCH runner, DJ! Spell checking myself. Game time on Saturday is also 11am, not 1pm and is subject to change! Will be posted on http://www.westseattlelittleleague.com!

  • J. Puckett July 13, 2012 (8:28 am)

    Great job guys! See you in Mt. Vernon on the 16th!

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