LAKE STEVENS — Things went pretty much according to plan for the Stilly Valley juniors July 7.
But that isn’t anything new for a team that has basically lost two games all season.
Stilly Valley got ahead early and shut down Marysville American to the tune of a 12-2 victory in the District 1 Little League Championship game.
“We scored early and used our great pitching to keep them from coming back,” said Stilly manager Bobby Collins. “It’s what we’ve been doing all year.”
Starting pitcher Ryan Walker stole the show both on the mound and at the plate. He went 4-for-5 with a home run, a double, four RBIs, four runs scored, two stolen bases — including one of home.
On the mound, he was equally as dominant, throwing 5 2/3 innings of two-run ball while giving up three hits and striking out 10.
“We were hoping to get by him like we did to their starter the first time we played them, but he did a good job of staying in the game,” said Marysville manager Scott Wood.
This was a rematch of the semifinal game in which Marysville came back from being down 12-2 in the sixth to force and extra frame before eventually falling 17-12.
Leading off for Stilly Valley, Walker started a two-run rally in the first with a double. He later came around to score on Josh Schempp’s single. Schempp then scored on Kyle Osborn’s single later that inning.
Scoring the eventual game-deciding run was Brandon Smith, who started off a five-run second inning with a walk — one of the five free passes Stilly drew that day.
Plate patience has been the hallmark of this team, which Collins said is the top priority during practice.
“I just throw thousands of pitches to them so they learn where the strike zone is,” he said. “Then we can go out there and make the pitcher work to get us out and frustrate him.”
With the win, Stilly Valley advances to the state tournament in Medical Lake. The team’s first game is set for July 18 at 3 p.m.
Also filling the stat sheet for Stilly was Tristan Jager, who went 3-for-4 with a double, two RBI and two runs scored. As the catcher, Tristan caught all of the Stilly pitchers, when he didn’t come in to throw the last pitch against Marysville.
“When I saw how good he was back there, I had to keep catching him,” Collins said. “But he started limping so I felt bad for him.”
The limp, however, could be attributed to two left-footed shoes Jager wore that day.
The juniors are made up of Peter Chung, Jacob Crain, Dallas Guerrero, Jager, Bradley Mosalsky, Osborn, Schempp, Smith, Noah Sorensen, Andrew Stitch, Brandon Tallman, Walker and Garrett Wiseman.
