Several baseball all-star teams are still alive as play heats up.
After a grueling two days of dramatic games for the Bainbridge 9- and 10-year-old All-Stars, they got some relief – and some laughs – when they doused their manager Stew Estes with several cups of water after their game on Monday.
It was a celebration after Bainbridge gave up two big leads but hung on to defeat the East Jefferson/South Jefferson/Port Townsend All-Stars 15-14.
Deahna King reached second on an error in the sixth inning by the East Jefferson rightfielder when she dropped a fly ball, then advanced to third on a passed ball.
Natalya Niehaus did the rest with a base hit up the middle.
“They’re learning,” Stew said of the team, which is comprised of quite a few nine-year-olds. “But they’re a pretty competitive group. We had our best hitters coming up, so I felt pretty good.”
Bainbridge broke open a 1-1 tie in the second inning when they batted around for eight runs.
King drove in a run with a base hit while Julie Feikes rounded out the scoring with a steal of home.
Bainbridge scored two more to put them up 11-2, but East Jefferson scored three in the fourth and three in the fifth to cut the deficit down.
Bainbridge scored three in their half of the fifth to go up 14-8, but in the top of the sixth, East Jefferson scored six runs on some timely hitting with two outs to tie the game.
But King and Niehaus took care of things in the sixth to send their teammates home happy and keep them alive for another day.
“We’ve got a large team (they have 14 players) and all of them are contributing,” Stew said. “It’s a fun time right now.”
The game was almost a carbon copy of their game against Sequim on Sunday, as they lost 19-18 in seven innings.
Bainbridge went up 7-0 in the second on a base hit by King with the bases loaded to clear them off.
But Sequim eventually worked their way back to tie the game in the sixth inning with six runs, then scored four in the seventh thanks to a two-run triple to take the lead.
Bainbridge kept at it, as they scored three on three walks, an error and a fielder’s choice to get within one.
But Abby Palmer was thrown out at home and the Sequim pitcher did the rest.
“We thought we had Sequim, but they’re an incredible team,” Stew said. “They have a lot of strong hitters who came alive.”
Bainbridge made short work of North Kitsap on Saturday, defeating them 10-0 in four innings.
Feikes threw a no-hitter, striking out seven and getting some nice plays from her defense in the win.
The 9- and 10-year-olds played yesterday against Sequim.
The Major All-Stars had an equally tough time against East Jefferson on Sunday, losing 18-17.
They took a 3-0 lead in the first, but East Jefferson scored five in the third, five in the fourth and three in the fifth to take a 14-6 lead.
But Bainbridge made a ferocious comeback, scoring 12 runs in the top of the sixth to take the lead.
The Majors took advantage of seven walks, several fielding miscues and getting the bounces to get their runs.
Ali Blake had two hits in the inning.
East Jefferson came right back to score four runs with the last two on a two-out double for the win.
The Majors defeated Key Peninsula 13-2 in four innings on Saturday.
Briana LeDoux hit an inside the park homer while ReAnna Repada added two doubles and Lilia Paul had a triple.
On the baseball side, the Bainbridge Little League All-Star teams fought hard to stay alive in district play.
The American 9- and 10-year-old All-Stars got a stellar pitching performance from Trent Schulte, as he threw a complete game one-hitter against the Gig Harbor American All Stars Friday for the 3-0 win.
He walked one and struck out seven.
The Americans got two hits from Carter Kraus and one from Gareth Grindeland to score their runs, while the infield play of Grindeland, Duncan Wellbrock, Duncan McCombs and Ben LaRoche committed no errors.
The 10- and 11-year-old American All-Stars lost a heartbreaker to South Kitsap Western 7-6.
Isaac Glansrock shot a homerun over the left centerfield fence while Harrison King drove in three with a triple, but South Kitsap scored four in the bottom of the sixth for the win.
For the 11- and 12-year-old National All-Stars, they got a great performance by Tyler Riely to defeat Key Peninsula 5-3.
Riely, Josh Barlet and Aeden Vickers had key hits for the Nationals, while Zander Silverman threw out a runner trying to advance.
The 11- and 12-year-old American All-Stars lost to South Kitsap West 10-3, but came back to defeat Sequim 11-1.
Sammy Orrey hit a two run shot in the South Kitsap West game, while Caleb Samson hit two home runs, a three-run blast in the first inning followed by a two-run shot in the second.
Tino Peleti matched Samson with two homers of his own and added a double.