Little League season is less than a week old, but one area player has already experienced the game of a lifetime.
I am hesitant to highlight individual efforts from youth sports. As a general policy, we at The Columbian don’t write about youth sports events until the locals are competing at a state-level or higher.
But Michael Guenther’s first game of this baseball season is worthy of an exception.
The 12-year-old struck out all 18 batters he faced in pitching a perfect game in the Glenwood Mets’ season opener on April 7.
Little League games last only six innings. That’s 18 outs. Sixteen of the batters Michael pitched to last Wednesday went down swinging. Two were called out on strikes.
“My two-seam fastball was working,” Michael said.
Michael said he didn’t realize what he was doing until after the fourth inning.
“He knew what was going on,” Mets manager Mike Hellman said. “He kept saying, ‘Let me keep pitching. Let me keep pitching.’ ”
The plan, as is often the case in Little league, was to have several players pitch. But Hellman wasn’t going to deny Michael a shot at perfection.
“It was pretty neat to watch,” Hellman said.
Only twice did the count reach three balls. In the fifth inning, Michael’s first three pitches to one batter were balls. But he recovered for the strikeout.
In fact, the biggest threat to Michael’s 18-strikeout day was his own team’s offense. In the fifth inning, the Mets were threatening to add to their 9-0 lead, which would have ended the game under Little League’s mercy rule.
Little League rules limit pitchers to 85 pitches in a game. Michael needed only 73 to set down 18 opponents — and then was dogpiled by teammates.
More soccer success
And now, from a larger stage … local youth soccer teams continue to find success in state cup tournaments.
Four girls teams brought home first-place trophies from second-division state tournaments that concluded with matches played Saturday and Sunday in Tukwila.
Two local teams with the chance to move beyond state competition came up short in the final round of the Washington Youth Soccer Challenge Cup.
The Washington State Challenge Cup is the mid-level state tournament for competitive youth soccer teams. It offers teams that play below the premier level the opportunity to compete for a berth in regional competition. The Challenge Cup for most age divisions concluded with semifinals on Saturday and finals on Sunday.
The two teams from Clark County entered Sunday with a shot at advancing into regional competition. But the Chinook Fire boys under-14 squad and the Columbia Timbers Blue girls under-12 side both lost in Gold Division championship matches.
The local teams that won titles over the weekend were not in contention to move on because they didn’t qualify for the top tier of the tournament’s elimination phase. Still, the teams left Tukwila feeling like champions.
Claiming Silver Bracket titles were two Columbia Timbers squads and two F.C. Salmon Creek teams. The Timbers teams won in the girls under-11 age group, with the Timbers Red winning 1-0 in the Division 1 Silver final, and Timbers Blue winning 1-0 in the Division 2 Silver final.
F.C. Salmon Creek Nemesis teams won Silver Bracket championships in the under-12 and the under-13 age groups. Both teams won by 2-1 scored in Sunday’s finals.
The Columbia Timbers Blue team for girls born in 1997 lost a heartbreaker, falling 1-0 in double overtime in the Gold Division finals to a team from Eastside F.C. A win would have advanced the Timbers team to regionals at Medford, Ore.
Also losing in the Gold finals was a Chinook Fire team in the boys under-14 age division. Another boys team, the F.C. Salmon Creek Juventus, lost in the boys under-12 Gold semifinals.
While the mid-level state soccer tournament concluded, the U.S. Youth Soccer Washington State Championship Cup will enter its elimination phase next weekend. The Championship Cup is the highest level of statewide competition and determines the state’s representatives to the U.S. Youth Soccer Far West Regionals.
Except for the high school boys ages, Championship Cup elimination play continues for at least two weeks.
As usual, the scores for both tournaments are in the Community Sports Scoreboard.
Odds and ends
• The 61st Clark County Open Bowling Championships will conclude with squads on Saturday and Sunday at Husted’s Hazel Dell Lanes.
New leaders emerged in most of the divisions during the second of the tournament’s three weekends. Including team, doubles, and singles play, the tournament has attracted a total of 72 entries. Current unofficial leaders are in today’s Community Sports Scoreboard.
The tournament is open to any United States Bowling Congress registered bowler. To participate, or to learn more about the annual event, call the USBC of Clark County at 360-694-6348, or contact Hazel Dell Lanes at 360-694-8364.
• The King’s Way Christian boys high school lacrosse team is tied for second place in its division after splitting a pair of close road games over the weekend. The Knights (4-1) return home to host Vashon (1-4) at 6 p.m. on Friday and Eastlake (1-4) at 6 p.m. on Saturday. Both games are at Columbia River High School.
PAUL DANZER covers Community Sports for The Columbian. Reach him at 360-735-4521 or paul.danzer@columbian.com.
