MARYSVILLE For three innings, the La Hacienda Sox of Marysville Little League looked not only on their way to defeating the Longshoremen of North Everett, but on their way to a perfect game as well.
The Sox beat a weak Longshoremen team 8-1 in Strawberry Tournament action June 5, their prolific offense scoring at least one run in each inning.
La Haciendas Josh Richter pitched the whole game, notching four Longshoremen strikeouts before visiting catcher Michael Mazza got a fourth-inning single.
By that time, the Sox were already up by five runs.
North Everett pitcher Jamie White walked three Sox players in the first inning. With bases loaded, White walked third baseman Austin Valadez to give the Sox a 1-0 lead. Valadezs teammate catcher Josh Martin made it 2-0 with a RBI single.
Jeffrey Harrison had a second-inning run, while Martin and outfielder Andrew Alvis each added to the Sox tally in the third inning. Martins run was the first of two in his 3-for-4 performance.
Bryson Lechner and second baseman Corey Coombs batted in the third-inning scores.
A Martin double in the fourth inning got the Sox offense going again. Richter hit a triple two batters later and Lechner had his second RBI single to put the home team up 7-0.
Shortstop Jose Flores got in on the action in the fifth inning, taking advantage of a Longshoremen error and teammate Valadezs double for the Soxs final score of the game.
Two North Everett players had singles in an abbreviated sixth inning. Shortstop Joe Sutton made it home to prevent the shutout, but the Longshoremen were unable to muster enough offense to force another Sox at bat.
Sox manager Ernie Brown said he is proud of the way his team is closing out their season. After finishing second in the Marysville Little League Nationals division, La Hacienda won all three of its Strawberry Tournament games, qualifying for the playoff portion of the tournament.
We played three really good teams. We held the opponents to five runs over 18 innings, which was the lowest out of pool play, of any team, Brown said. We hit the ball well. We played good defense.
He added that in the tournament, some of the teams youngest players have begun to hit their stride.
The La Hacienda playoff appearance follows a 10-3 defeat of the Stilly Valley Bandits June 10. Although a narrow loss to the Bandits might have still qualified the Sox for the tournament playoffs, that was a risk none of Browns players wanted to take.
Jose Flores had his first Little League home run (June 10), a three-run home run, Brown said of the win over the Bandits.
Brown added of his teams regular season and tournament run, Im just proud of the kids. They did great. They gelled together and understand the team concept we try to teach.

At Cedar Field

N. Everett 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
Sox 2 1 2 2 1 x 8