Little League girls win district, earn trip to state tournament
July 20, 2011
By Sebastian Moraga
This team stunk so badly, it’s no wonder they won it all.
On their way to their first District 9 title, the girls in the Snoqualmie Valley-Sno-Valley North Little League’s “AAA” All-Star softball team refused to wash their uniforms for districts.
The District 9 softball champions display their team banner. Back row from left, Cierra Howatson, Jon Howatson, Emily Webb, Hayley Aman, Maddy Trout, Heather Hinton, Gary Hinton, Gary Damron, Peyton Smothers, Kristi Aman, and Kaitlyn Rennie. Front row, from left: Kylie Newcomer, Chloe Cairns, and Madison McGavran. Contributed
“My family kept annoying me about it,” said shortstop Maddy Trout, “kept saying I smelled.”
Asked why she did not wash her uniform, she replied, “It had our wins on it.”
By the time their fifth and final game came, the fourth one in four days, the socks could almost walk on their own, team manager Kristi Aman said.
The team won the District 9 tournament and qualified for the first time for state, scheduled for this week in SeaTac.
The girls bested players from Bellevue, Issaquah, Mercer Island, Redmond and Sammamish in sterling fashion, stringing together four consecutive wins after losing their first match, 6-5, to a team of players from Bellevue and Mercer Island.
“To watch these girls play together, it’s phenomenal,” Aman said.
The girls have played together since age 7.
At districts, Trout clinched the second game of the streak with a walk-off triple, and had another triple the next day.
In the third game of the streak, left fielder Madison McGavran saved the team’s two-run lead with two outs and the bases loaded with a unique diving catch.
“I dove for it and then fell over,” she said.
Trout then clinched the title game against the same squad from Bellevue and Mercer Island with her glove, getting the last three outs, Aman said.
The team has nine players from the Snoqualmie Valley area and one from Snoqualmie Valley North, in the Carnation-Duvall area.
“We all work together,” Trout said. “We all try.”
The same goes for the coaches and parents — such as Deanna Brickman, Jon Howatson and Gary Damron — who helped, Aman said.
Besides its talent, the Valley team had home-field advantage, leading the team to adopt “Not in Our House,” as their official cheer for the tournament.
“It was cool,” Aman said. “The stands were full, we had people behind the fences, we had my sons leading the cheers, we had baseball coaches out here and fans who didn’t even have kids playing but they knew the girls. It was a community event.”
The state tournament began July 16, with the Valley team enjoying a bye. The team played July 17 and if it kept winning, was scheduled to play July 19 and then in the state finals July 21.
State champs or not, the girls have their eyes on bigger game. They want to go to the World Series next year.
“If they were to win state, they would go to regionals,” Aman said of next year’s team. “And if they won regionals, they would go to the World Series. That’s what they want. They want it all.”
Indeed, after they win the World Series, they want to keep on playing, wearing Mount Si colors.
“What we always hope is that Little League feeds the high school,” Aman said. “So what we hope for three or four years from now is that this is the team you’re going to be seeing out there.”
Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com.
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