Eastlake Little League Rides Big Bats Into State Tournament

After losing in the second round of the District 9 Little League All-Star tournament, the Eastlake All-Stars had manager Rob Carney worried. The powerful hitting lineup Carney had put together had failed to produce and the team was now one loss away from bowing out of the all-star season.

Seven wins later, the bats are alive and Eastlake is headed to the state tournament.

Eastlake in the District 9 championship game on Tuesday and is now headed to the Eastlake Little League's first 12-and-under state tournament since 2003. After that second-round 9-1 loss to Kirkland National, the team has dominated its competition, outscoring opponents 71-22 during its run to the District 9 title.

"We've got a really good team," first-year all-star manager Rob Carney said. "They kind of came out a little cold in the tournament, maybe nerves. They weren't hitting the ball as well as they normally would. Once they started hitting the ball, they got a lot of confidence and got used to hitting all-star pitching."

That offensive explosion has come from a number of different players. While most all-star teams feature one or two players with the capability of hitting a homerun, Eastlake had six different players hit one during the district tournament and has others with the kind of power to do so.

"What really helps our team and sets it apart is pretty much everybody on the team can hit," Carney said. "So you can't just pitch around a couple of guys because everybody on the team can hit."

The Eastlake pitching staff is also noteworthy, featuring a six-deep rotation. In back-to-back wins over Bellevue, Eastlake tossed out four different pitchers and Carney said he could have gone deeper.

"We could have actually played several more games because we have a couple other good pitchers that didn't even pitch," Carney said. "There's a lot of good arms on this team."

Carney said he expects the team to perform well against the heightened competition and hopes the hot-hitting lineup will continue to score runs. In fact his only concern is going up against a Danny Almonte-like pitching behemoth.

"My biggest worry is facing that really big 12-year-old pitcher that throws 75 miles per hour," Carney said with a laugh.

In between most innings and whenever the team is in need of a spark, one of the team's parents, usually Mike Armbruester, begins a call-and-respond chant:

"Who are we?"

"Eastlake!"

With a deep lineup and strong pitching rotation, the Eastlake Little League All-Stars may be able to answer "Who are we?" with the answer of "state champs."