SNOQUALMIE VALLEY – The Snoqualmie Valley Little League Majors All-Stars baseball team continued its remarkable run through the state tournament last Monday with a heart-stopping come-from-behind win over a very good Northshore American team from Bothell, the District 8 Little League champions.

Braden Wolgamott’s walk-off two-run double with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning capped off a miraculous rally as SVLL won 5-4. The win came from a rally when Snoqualmie Valley had been down 4-1 to Northshore American going into the bottom of the sixth when they scored four runs. Three of those runs, including the two from Wolgamott’s big hit, came with two out and SVLL on the ropes.

“There was one strike, two balls and I didn’t want to go to two strikes, so I wanted to swing at the pitch, anything that was a strike. I just drove [it] right through the hole and I saw them bobble in left field, and they just scored,” Wolgamott said.

After Monday’s amazing win, it seemed as if nothing was going to stop the SVLL kids from going all the way to San Bernardino. Things, though, quickly changed.

Remarkable performance stymies SVLL

Considering how the SVLL team had won their three games at state -through defense, offense, and guts- it seemed anything was possible Wednesday when the team took on the All-Stars from Chehalis, the District 3 champions. What happened though, was something many would not have expected.

In front of a standing-room only crowd, Chehalis pitcher Robert Pehl tossed a perfect game, and Justin Wilson hit one of two Chehalis home runs as the kids from Southwest Washington thumped SVLL 8-0.

Chehalis manager Bob Pehl was happy, but indicated that there’s more to come from his pitcher.

“I mean he threw well, but I’ve seen him throw a little better. Hot day, but [the] defense really helped him out,” he said.

SVLL’s hitters struggled the entire game with Robert Pehl’s velocity, location and choice of pitches.

“He [Robert] threw really hard and he located and we weren’t hitting the fastball. We got down in the count and he had a good curveball,” said Wolgamott.

Andrew Dunklee got roughed up on the mound, giving up six runs in five-plus innings. His stuff was not as sharp as it was in his first tournament game, but he still struck out three hitters.

Snoqualmie Valley manager Greg Taylor feels his team can come back but it will not be easy.

“There’s no question about it. The teams remaining in this tournament are all very good teams. These guys just need to reach down inside, and figure out what they did tonight, and learn from it, [and] come back,” he said.

Mill Creek ends Snoqualmie Valley’s dreams

With a lot on the line, SVLL played Mill Creek, champions of District 1, Friday night. They gave it their all, but fell just short, falling 6-5 to Mill Creek, ending SVLL’s historic run with a third place finish.