Lakeside starts Brandy Pugh with win, Little Leaguers still on title quest

Lakeside Recovery blasted Bellevue Honda 9-2 to open play as the hosts of the Brandy Pugh Memorial baseball tournament.

Bel-West faces Mercer Island tonight for spot in 11-year-old All-Star title round

The 11-year-olds from Bellevue West Little League are two wins from a championship.

After fighting past neighbors Bellevue East 11-9 behind home runs from Andrew Bennett and Jack Witham in the opening round, Bel-West overwhelmed Sammamish 11-2 on Sunday to remain in the winners bracket. Redmond North stood between Bel-West and a spot in the semi-finals, but plated only a pair of runs as pitcher Nick Cvitkovic picked-up his second win of the tournament for Bel-West in a 3-2 win.

Things don’t get any easier for coach Steve Cvitkovic’s squad tonight, as they face a Mercer Island squad that has won their three games by a combined 21 runs, including two shutouts (3-0, 10-0).

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The winner will move into the championship round and will have two opportunities to win only one game against whichever team emerges from the bottom of the bracket. The loser tonight will still be alive for a shot at the title, but will need to win four straight games beginning Saturday.

Tonight’s semi-final match-up takes place at 6 p.m. on Field 1 at Hidden Valley Sports Park.

Thunderbird one win from state

Thunderbird Little League’s Juniors team will face either Mercer Island, Bellevue East/Bellevue West or Redmond for the District 9 tournament title on Friday at 6 p.m. at Newport High School. Those are the same three teams Thunderbird has defeated on their path to the final series of the double-elimination tournament.

Softball teams still fighting

The combined team from Bellevue West, Thunderbird and Mercer Island also finds themselves only one win from becoming District 9 champs in the 11-year-old softball tournament. After handling Eastlake/Redmond North/Redmond West in the first round 13-1, they took down Sno-Valley/Sno-Valley North 6-5 before defeating Issaquah/Sammamish 11-9 on Tuesday.

It will be one of those three teams again for Bellevue/Mercer Island with a trophy on the line on Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 10 a.m. if necessary at Torguson Park in North Bend.

In the 10-year-old tournament, Thunderbird and Bellevue East are still alive and can move into the final series with a win tonight over the combined squad from Redmond North and Redmond West. Sno-Valley North, which defeated the Bellevue squad 10-0 on Wednesday, awaits the winner of tonight’s 6 p.m. match-up.

Lakeside Recovery Baseball hosts 34th Brandy Pugh Memorial Tournament in Bellevue

The 34th annual Brandy Pugh Memorial baseball tournament opened Wednesday with host Lakeside Recovery, Chaffey Baseball Club, the Spokane Dodgers and Taylor Baseball Club all picking up wins.

Pool play will continue through Sunday with championship match-ups between the top teams from each of the two pools meeting on Monday evening at Bannerwood Park.

According to the Lakeside Baseball website, the hosts have won six titles in the history of the tournament, with the most recent coming in 1995. Chaffey has also collected six championship trophies while Taylor has four.

Among the more outstanding offensive tournament records are Brent Johnson’s six stolen bases in a game and nine for a tournament (eight games in 1988) for the Seattle Rainiers, Shea Vucinich knocking in seven runs in a

game for the Spokane Dodgers in 2007, Thomas Henderson’s five hits (all singles) in a game for the Kennewick Bandits (2009) and Alhaji Turay belting three home runs in a game for Taylor back in 2000.

Chuck Jackson recorded a trio of triples in a 1981 tourney game for Food Giant (now Lakeside) and Brandon Johnson tagged a pair of grand slams in a game in 1999, also for Food Giant.

On the mound, four pitchers have recorded a no-hitter in the tourney, with the most recent being Newport’s Greg Goetz in 2002 for Food Giant. Only one did so in a tournament title game, with Mike Campbell tossing a no-no for Lakeside (then known as R.C. Winter) in 1984.

World Series winner and former Liberty Patriot Tim Lincecum struck out 1.93 batters per inning (Lincecum struck out 27 batters over 14 innings for Pulsbo RV in the tournament) during his team’s run in 2003 and the San Francisco Giant’s ace was at his best in a seven inning, 16 strikeout performance.

Adam Peterson has the record for wins and complete games in a tournament with four, which he achieved for Ryder Construction in 1983.