Montesano 11-12 All Starts finish fourth at state

Montesano’s historic run through the state tournament comes to an end.

The rematch had the same outcome as the first meeting for the Montesano 11-12 Little League All-Stars on Thursday, July 28, as Montesano’s historic run through the state tournament came to an end.

Montesano dropped a loser’s bracket contest to Federal Way National, the same team that defeated Montesano 7-1 in the first game of the tournament, 10-5 on Thursday. With the loss, Montesano took fourth place out of the 13 teams that qualified for the state tournament, a finish Montesano Little League President Steve Bove said he believes is the best for any Montesano 11-12 Little League team.

Montesano drew first blood against Federal Way on July 28. In the first inning, Monte loaded the bases and Malachi Backholm scored on a passed ball to take a 1-0 lead. However, Federal Way would do its biggest damage with 4-run rallies in both the second and third innings to grab the lead back for good. Montesano struggled to find control on the mound with seven walks and committed six errors defensively in that same 2-inning stretch.

Monte got one run back in the third inning when Isaac Pierce tripled and then came home on a ground out by Backholm. Isaiah Pierce added one more in the fifth inning with a home run to cut the Federal Way lead to 8-3.

After Federal Way added two more runs in the top of the six, Monte rallied to push two across in the bottom of the six, but that is where the rally and season ended for Montesano.

The group of 13 players assembled for Montesano qualified for the state tournament each of the last three seasons without losing a single district game.

The 12-year-old players on the Montesano team included Trace Ridgway, Isaiah Pierce, Isaac Pierce, Malaki Osbekoff-Burgess, Backholm, Christian Prall, Jack Anderson, Nick Westling, Dylan Schoch, James Henderson and Lucas Salstrom.

Monte 7, West Seattle 2

A five-run fifth inning allowed Montesano’s 11-12 All-Stars to continue their run through the Washington State 11-12 Little League Tournament on Wednesday, July 27.

Montesano won its fourth straight loser-out contest with the fifth-inning surge en route to a 7-2 victory over West Seattle. Westling’s bases-loaded clearing triple gave Montesano the lead for good in the fifth. Malaki Osbekoff’s two-run single added to the tally.

Ridgway started the scoring with a two-run home run in the first inning for Monte. West Seattle tied the game on a two-run triple off Schoch in the fourth inning.

Isaac Pierce started on the mound, allowing just one infield hit in three-plus innings.

After Monte got the lead, Anderson and Ridgway finished with one inning of work each. Anderson and Ridgway combined for five strikeouts in six total batters faced.

Monte 6, Queen Anne 5

The Montesano 11-12 Little League All-Stars extended their state tournament experience by another day with a come-from-behind win on Tuesday, July 26.

Down 5-0 after two innings, Montesano got a Osbekoff home run and a three-run surge in the fifth inning to secure a 6-5 win over Queen Anne Little League at the Washington State 11-12 Little League tournament.

Osbekoff, Backholm, Isaac Pierce and Anderson worked on the mound, with Anderson getting the save in the sixth inning.