Little League, Babe Ruth All-Stars named

The competition continues throughout the summer for the elite squads. Larkin Sheldon of the Storm, Taylor Greenfield of the Blaze and Hailey Willmann of the league champion Diamonds were voted by their peers to the Bainbridge Island Little League 11-12 All-Star team.

The competition continues throughout the summer for the elite squads.

Larkin Sheldon of the Storm, Taylor Greenfield of the Blaze and Hailey Willmann of the league champion Diamonds were voted by their peers to the Bainbridge Island Little League 11-12 All-Star team.

The nine placed on the team by the majors managers included Clara Dunn, Cali Moore and Ashley Hufnagle (Diamonds), Sarah Dacquisto and Abby Hartmann (Blaze), Caitlin McCormick, Alex Shimmin and Taylor “TJ” Pitts (Ice) and Kristi Worley (Commotion). Manager is Troy Greenfield (Blaze), with coach Brian Moore (Diamonds).

The 9-10 Softball All-Stars include Ali Blake, Maddie Stevenson and Faith Campbell (Storm); Kayla Estes and Cailyn Schreck (Blaze); Lauren Easley (Intermediate Blaze); Erin Kinney, Mo McCormick and Katie Raben (Ice); Brianna Ledoux and Emily Schneider (Diamonds); and Lauren Sheehan (Intermediate Ice). Manager is Deidra Raben, with assistant coaches Beverly Blake and Jay Kinney.

In 11-12 Baseball All-Star selections, Blake Harper (Pirates), Nick Denney (Cardinals) and Nick Miller (Reds) were voted to the National Division team by their peers.

The nine placed on the team by the majors managers were Jeff Hinman, Henry Indvik, Kevin Bowman and Sean Kennedy (Cardinals), Tucker Gillies (Cubs), JJ Wilford and Daniel Wyman (Diamondbacks), Connor Loudon (Reds) and Alex Raquer (Pirates). Manager is Jeff Bowman (Cardinals), with coaches Bill Harper and Jim Wilford.

Voted to the 11-12 All-Star American Division squad were Derek Acuna (Mariners), Bryce Fredey (Athletics) and David Greenwood (Yankees).

The nine placed on the team by the majors managers were Chance Roebke, Matt Staff and John Murphy (Mariners); Chris Bell, Connor O’Keefe and Eamonn O’Keefe (Yankees); Kelton Jenkins (Athletics); and Evan Sanford and Brenton Thomas (Red Sox). Manager is Chris Acuna (Mariners), with coaches Scott Fredey and Rick Watson.

Other Little League All-Star selections include:

Baseball National Division 11-Year-Old All-Stars – Eric Raustein and Lars Nelson (Cardinals); Duncan Newland Thompson (Diamondbacks); Adam Pool, Andrew Hunt and Daniel Garber (Pirates); Mitchell Coryell (Reds); Robby Ackerley, Ryan Schreck, Steven Wellbrock and Ryan Sheehan (Rockies); and Gabe DiIorio (Cubs). Manager is Bill Ackerley (Rockies), with coaches Greg Wellbrock and Bill Hunt.

Baseball American Division 11-Year-Old All-Stars – Caleb Samson and Lars Hansen (Mariners); Ian Gourley and Sam Orrey (Yankees); Rico Failla, Cam Engstrom and Alec Griewe (Athletics); John Scott (Tigers); Colin White, Brian Beemer, Will Whealdon and Ben Martin (Red Sox); and Cole Adams (AAA Mariners).

Manager is Rick Roebke (Mariners).

Baseball National Division 10-Year-Old All-Stars – Nick Bierly (Cardinals); Kaegan Ingraci and Cory Daniels (Reds); Bryce McDonald (Diamondbacks); Ricky Ackerley, Tyler Riley, Zander Silverman and Baxter Allen (Rockies); Brett Green (AAA Diamondbacks); Todd McCarthy (AAA Pirates); Sam Reddy (AAA Red Sox); and Ryan Gilles (AAA Mariners). Manager is John Daniels (Reds).

Baseball American Division 10-Year-Old All-Stars – Danny Drewry (Athletics); Sam Kallas and Ben Eager (Mariners); Tomas Delgado (Yankees); Thomas Jorza (Red Sox); Drew Miller and Jake Shimmin (Tigers); Tino Peleti (AAA Rockies); Ben Kussie (AAA Diamondbacks); Liam Griewe (AAA Red Sox); Scott Wyman (AAA Tigers); and Austin Harper (AAA Mariners). Manager is Brian Shimmin (Tigers) with coaches Phil Miller and Alex Kallas.

Babe Ruth

Also announcing All-Star teams this week was Bainbridge Island Babe Ruth:

Babe Ruth 15-Year-Old All-Stars – Tanner Bogardus, Ben Curtis, Austin Droguett, Griffin Dunn, Tyler Ferrell, Willie Greene, Sean Henshaw, Sean Lawson, Vinnie Miller, Adam Nance, Nico Papajani, Reggie Peltier and Cory Slater. Manager is Dick Henshaw.

Babe Ruth 14-Year-Old All-Stars – Casey Adkins, Mackenzie Bond, Nathan Corke, Steffan Dacquisto, Jacob Estes, Jordan Gaphni, Kevin Hope, Sam McAllister, Colby Morse, Ross Olason, Kiyle Playter, Ian Powell, Andrew Redmond, Charlie Reis and Anthony Ricco. Manager is Israel Gaphni, with coaches: Bob Hope and Bruce Hebner.

Babe Ruth 13-Year-Old All-Stars – Neil Bjorklund, Ryan Burris, James Coatsworth, Michael John Cox, Will Diiorio, Spencer Eager, Michael Kilbane, Mitch Main, Elliot Marsing, Kevin McCormick, David Ortyn, Cole Rabinowitz, Adam Ruby, Kyle Schneider and Rolf Toren. Manager is Chuck Cox, with coaches Brian Feldtman and Jeff Main.

* * * * *

Perfect Storm

On a perfect evening for a ballgame, the Storm bested the regular-season champion Blaze in the Intermediate Fastpitch Softball Championship game June 10 at Strawberry Hill Park.

The Storm came out fired up and scored four runs in the first inning. Katia Nelson, Kelli Young and Tara Wilford started the game with three straight singles and were driven in by Erin Norton, Quinn Erickson and Maddie Gander.

The Blaze answered immediately with four runs of their own in the first behind the power hitting of Lauren Easley and Maggie Murphy.

The Blaze took the lead with three runs each in the second and third innings. Easley and Murphy scored for the second time along with Issabelle Sparks, Shelly Lubovich and Deahna King. The Storm was held to only one run in the middle innings behind the pitching of Esther Brotman and Lauren Easley.

The Storm had a huge fifth inning, scoring seven runs to take the lead late in the game. Andie Mitchell and Koki Kresser got it started by drawing walks from Easley. Katia Nelson followed with a two-run double.

The Storm loaded the bases again and got a huge hit from Tara Bieber that scored Anna Riley and Mary Boynton. Easley settled down and retired the Storm in order the rest of the way.

Katia Nelson came on to pitch for the Storm in the third inning and held the hard-hitting Blaze to four runs over the final four innings.

With the pressure building over the final innings, Nelson kept her cool and retired six of the last eight Blaze hitters with the help of solid catching from Wilford. She struck out the last two batters, which gave the Storm a 12-11 victory and the 2005 BILL Intermediate Softball Championship.

The Storm showed great improvement over the year by winning their last eight games after starting the season with two wins and four losses.