When the Redmond North (Washington) Little League all-star team began preparing for its opening round game in the Washington District 9 tournament, big ideas were in the air.

"The first practice, we said 'All right, we're going to Williamsport this year, guys," recalled Redmond pitcher/infielder Ryan Beliel. "It was just a joke."

It was also improbable, especially after Sammamish National Little League downed Redmond North 1-0 in the teams' District 9 tournament opener.

But Redmond North worked its way through the elimination bracket, reeling off eight consecutive victories to claim the league's first district title since 1997. The squad took the same scenic route through the double-elimination state tournament: Redmond North dropped its opener to Sea-Tac's PacWest Little League before winning six in a row to claim the Washington state title.

When Redmond North erased a three-run deficit with a four-run rally in the bottom of the sixth inning in the semifinal round at the Northwest Region tournament in San Bernardino, California, Williamsport was anything but a joke: it was one game away.

Soon, it was reality.

Redmond North jumped to an early lead and defeated West Valley Little League (Eagle, Idaho) 6-3 to win the Northwest Region championship game at Al Houghton Stadium. With the win, Redmond North became the sixth Washington league ever to reach the Little League World Series.

"We told the kids tonight, 'Have fun, you will always be champions,'" said Redmond North manager Darryl Beliel after the championship game. "If we won, it was a bonus. If not, we would go home and hold our heads high. And now we're going to the World Series."

Redmond North never trailed in the championship game, and broke the contest open in a pivotal fourth inning. Redmond carried a 2-0 lead into the inning, but West Valley loaded the bases with nobody out on a pair of singles and a walk. Grady Shalz walked to force in a run, but Ryan Beliel registered a strikeout, a force at home on a grounder to third baseman Stephen Thompson, and an inning-ending comebacker to escape further damage.

Energized by the escape act in the top of the inning, Redmond North pulled away with four runs in the bottom of the frame. Three walks and a pair of errors extended Redmond's lead to 3-1 before Ryan Beliel smashed a single off the shortstop's glove and into left field. Kelby McCorkle and Cameron Sandquist both scored on the play, and Ryan Beliel later scored on a passed ball.

"The tempo changed," said Idaho manager Randy Dodd of the fateful inning. "We couldn't make it happen. You have to give (Ryan Beliel) credit. He really battled and got out of that jam. He's a good pitcher."

Ryan Beliel allowed five hits and five walks in a complete game effort, and stranded six baserunners while holding West Valley to three runs. Idaho sliced the lead when Travis Saxton doubled and scored on a throwing error in the fifth before Nik Buich slammed a solo home run over the right center field fence, but Beliel closed out the game with a scoreless sixth inning.

"We've come from behind in several games this year," said West Valley coach Jeff Schwers. "We thought we could do it. Our kids gave everything we had (but) we just ran out of innings."

Redmond North almost ran out of innings in their semifinal round win, an 8-7 decision over top-seeded Dimond-West Little League (Anchorage, Alaska). The Alaskan team jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning, and carried a 7-4 lead into the bottom of the sixth before the Washington champions staved off elimination with a four-run rally.

"I told the kids we should play like champions and go out big," said Darryl Beliel.

Redmond began its comeback by loading the bases with nobody out when Ryan Beliel doubled, Michael Conforto reached on an error, and Colin Porter singled. Beliel scored on a fielding error following Dylan Pollett's infield grounder, and Kyle Henselman walked to force in Conforto. Special pinch runner David Gillam scored on a wild pitch to tie the game, and Pollett scored when the next pitch was also wild to lift Redmond North past the upstart Alaska champions.

Dimond-West suprised many observers by posting three victories during pool competition, including an 8-3 win over Redmond North. The league had also reached the region tournament in 2003, but was outscored 50-5 while losing all four of its pool games. Dimond-West's success in 2004 caught even the team's parents by surprise, as many needed to change return flight arrangements when the Anchorage team became Alaska's first region tournament semifinalist since 1982.

"We lost to Washington 18-2 last year, but we have some of the kids back and that's helped," said Dimond-West coach Cal Lauwers of his team's success. "When we beat Idaho in the opener nobody thought too much of it, but it's turned out Idaho is a pretty good team."

"They're really a good team," said West Valley manager Randy Dodd, whose team fell to Dimond-West 6-1 in extra innings in the tournament's opening game.

West Valley bounced back from the loss, winning its three remaining pool games. The Idaho champions then outlasted Murrayhill Little League (Beaverton, Oregon) 10-7 in a ten inning semifinal played in near 100-degree heat. Jake Wylie's two-run homer in the first helped West Valley race to a 4-0 lead, but Murrayhill roared back with seven unanswered runs in the next two innings thanks in part to a pair of two-run homers by Jake Keudell.

West Valley rallied in the sixth, forcing extra innings with Shalz's two-run single and Nate Nelson's bases-loaded walk. Reliever Chris McClure kept Murrayhill's offense in check with four innings of two-hit relief, and Wylie snapped the tie in the tenth with another homer, this one a two-run shot just over the 'Idaho' sign attached to the left center field fence.

"It was such a back-and-forth game," said Schwers. "We were up 4-0 . . . next thing we knew, it was 7-4. But we told the kids to just hang in there, and they did."

"It was an incredible game," said Murrayhill manager Dan Love. "You have to give them credit for coming back."

Redmond North was in the unfamiliar position of not needing a comeback earlier in the tournament after winning its first two pool games. Six different Washington players slammed home runs in a 17-8 win over Missoula Southside (Montana) Little League, and Redmond North then used a twelve run outburst in the third inning to roll past Kihei (Hawaii) Little League 15-0.

"We normally don't blast this many home runs in one day," said Darryl Beliel after his team's power surge against the Montana champions. Sandquist, Ryan Beliel, Conforto, Porter, Henselman, and Thompson all cleared the fences, and the latter four players had three hits apiece.

The next day, Porter's grand slam capped Redmond's outburst in what became a nightmare third inning for the Hawaiian team. Two runs were already in when Kihei recorded the inning's second out, but a pair of errors, a hit batsman, a catcher's interference call, a bases-loaded walk, and Porter's screaming line drive over the center field fence led to ten more Redmond runs.

"It's definitely nice to be 2-0 right now," said Darryl Beliel. "This puts us in a nice position."

The win proved critical when Murrayhill, Redmond, and Kihei finished pool competition in a three-way tie for third place. Redmond's victory over Kihei was the tiebreaker between the two clubs for the final semifinal round berth, and two victories later, Williamsport was no laughing matter for the Washington champions.

"There's been a different hero every game," said Darryl Beliel, whose team faced elimination in 16 of its 22 games leading up to the Little League World Series. "We're not riding one player.

"We knew we wanted twelve solid players who play together as a team and keep their attitude together."

And their dreams big.

Linescores:

Pool Play Game 1	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10		R	H	E
Dimond-West (Alaska)	0	1	0	0	0	0	5					6	6	1
West Valley (Idaho)	0	0	1	0	0	0	0					1	6	2
Pool Play Game 2
Redmond North (Washington)	1	1	4	3	4	4						17	17	4
Missoula Southside (Montana)	3	0	2	3	0	0						8	7	1
Pool Play Game 3
Kihei (Hawaii)	1	5	0	0	1	3						10	14	1
Dimond-West (Alaska)	0	0	2	1	1	0						4	6	0
Pool Play Game 4
Missoula Southside (Montana)	1	0	0	0	0	0						1	3	4
Murrayhill (Oregon)	0	1	0	0	7	x						8	6	1
Pool Play Game 5
Redmond North (Washington)	0	0	12	3								15	10	0
Kihei (Hawaii)	0	0	0	0								0	2	5
Pool Play Game 6
Kihei (Hawaii)	0	2	0	0	0	5						7	9	2
West Valley (Idaho)	1	0	3	0	4	x						8	11	1
Pool Play Game 7
Missoula Southside (Montana)	0	0	0	0	0	0						0	2	1
Dimond-West (Alaska)	0	0	2	0	2	x						4	7	2
Pool Play Game 8
Redmond North (Washington)	0	0	3	2	0	0						5	6	4
Murrayhill (Oregon)	1	0	0	0	5	x						6	9	3
Pool Play Game 9
Murrayhill (Oregon)	2	1	4	0	0	0						7	8	1
West Valley (Idaho)	5	3	3	0	0	x						11	8	2
Pool Play Game 10
Redmond North (Washington)	0	0	0	3	0	0						3	5	2
Dimond-West (Alaska)	2	3	0	3	0	x						8	6	0
Pool Play Game 11
West Valley (Idaho)	1	2	0	2	2	3						10	8	1
Missoula Southside (Montana)	0	0	0	0	4	0						4	7	3
Pool Play Game 12
Kihei (Hawaii)	0	0	0	1	0	0						1	2	1
Murrayhill (Oregon)	0	0	0	0	0	0						0	1	0
Semifinal Round
West Valley (Idaho)	3	1	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	3		10	11	1
Murrayhill (Oregon)	0	5	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		7	12	0
Semifinal Round
Dimond-West (Alaska)	4	0	1	1	1	0						7	6	4
Redmond North (Washington)	3	0	1	0	0	4						8	10	4
Championship Game
West Valley (Idaho)	0	0	0	1	2	0						3	5	4
Redmond North (Washington)	0	2	0	4	0	x						6	7	1

---

Toward the past

Toward the present

---

The Unpage brings you unprecedented tournament coverage.
Thank-you for visiting