Under ordinary circumstances, a perfect game means that no batter reaches base.

But in the high-stakes atmosphere of the Western Region tournament championship game, extraordinary circumstances called for a new definition.

Pitchers Greg Peavey and Jay Ponciano were perfect through five innings -- by their definition -- and used a game-ending double play to stymie a sixth inning rally as their Hazel Dell (Washington) Little League club upset powerful Ocean View (Huntington Beach, Southern California) 3-2 at Al Houghton Stadium in San Bernardino. With the combined no-hitter, Hazel Dell became the first Washington league to advance to the Little League World Series since the legendary Kirkland National all-star team in 1982.

Washington manager Tom Peavey had a clear strategy in the Western Region title game: do not let Hank Conger beat you. Conger, Ocean View's top hitter and pitcher, came into the game hitting .636 (7 for 11) at the region tournament, with four home runs that including a 300' moon shot believed to be the longest ever hit at Al Houghton Stadium. Hazel Dell's idea of perfection involved pitching around Conger and containing the other Ocean View hitters.

Greg Peavey and Ponciano executed the plan flawlessly. Peavey pitched three hitless innings before departing due to a sore arm, and Ponciano followed suit with three hitless innings of his own. Through five innings, Conger was the only baserunner Ocean View managed, as the Hazel Dell hurlers never threw him a pitch in the strike zone.

While Peavey and Ponciano stymied Ocean View, Hazel Dell's offense scratched for three runs. After Ocean View starter Chris Palmer retired the first two batters in the third inning, Ponciano was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a passed ball, and scored when Jackson Evans sliced a single to right field. Two innings later, after Conger had relieved Palmer, Jesse Boehm walked and eventually scored on a wild pitch. In the sixth, Josh Hash was hit by a pitch and came around on a passed ball, a sacrifice, and another wild pitch.

Despite the widening lead, Hazel Dell needed a superb defensive finish to withstand Ocean View's last inning rally. A hit batter and a pair of walks -- one to Conger when first base wasn't open -- loaded the bases with nobody out. After a strikeout, Ponciano uncorked a wild pitch that cut Washington's lead to 3-1. Then Peavey, who had been so effective in starting the game, started a game-ending double play. Palmer hit a bouncer to shortstop. Conger scored as Peavey looked the runner back to second and threw to first baseman Korey Dunkel to retire the batter. As Peavey threw to first, the runner on second broke for third. Dunkel fired a strike to third baseman Jeremy Dunham, who tagged out the runner to complete the tournament-winning 6-3-5 double play.

Ocean View's two title game runs represented half of the offense allowed by Hazel Dell pitchers at the Western Region tournament. Peavey fired a two-hitter in the opening round as the Portland area team defeated Ewa (Hawaii) 8-0. Hazel Dell took advantage of five wild pitches and a passed ball to score seven times in the first two innings. Evans and Ponciano both scored twice, and were a combined five for seven at the plate, while Peavey set the tone defensively with thirteen strikeouts.

Peavey was even more effective in his next outing. After Ponciano's three-hitter helped to beat Medford American (Oregon) 8-2 -- both Oregon runs were unearned -- Peavey threw a four inning perfect game as Hazel Dell overwhelmed Boulder Arrowhead (Billings, Montana) 14-0. Peavey struck out eight and induced four groundouts, while Ponciano provided the offensive support with a pair of homers and five RBIs. The win sent Hazel Dell to the championship game of their bracket, where they would again face Boulder Arrowhead.

Hazel Dell manager Tom Peavey then gambled -- and won. Hazel Dell needed only one win to advance to the region championship game against the winner of the other bracket, while Boulder Arrowhead would need a pair of wins due to the bracket's double-elimination format. Rather than deploying Ponciano in the Montana rematch, Tom Peavey penciled in Dunham as his starting pitcher, in the hopes that he would have both Greg Peavey and Ponciano available for the title game. Dunham made his manager's gamble pay off with a four-hit shutout as Hazel Dell defeated Boulder Arrowhead 4-0 to gain the championship game. Ponciano chipped in with a two-run homer, and Alex Gordon added an RBI single for the winners.

Hazel Dell's win over Ocean View earned the Washington champions a trip to the Little League World Series. Hazel Dell won its first two games in the U.S. pool, but the Western Region champions were in a unique position entering their final pool game against Davenport East (Iowa). A loss would put Hazel Dell in a three-way tie with Davenport and Bellaire (Texas). Under tiebreaking rules used in Little League pool competition, if Hazel Dell lost to Davenport while scoring two runs or less, they would advance to the semifinals. However, if they lost and scored more than two runs, they would be eliminated.

Iowa rallied from an early deficit to take a 4-2 lead after three innings, leaving Tom Peavey with a decision. If Hazel Dell wanted to advance, they could lay down their bats, and, by virtue of not scoring any more runs, move into the semifinals. (Davenport would advance on the first tiebreaker -- fewest runs allowed per defensive inning played -- while Hazel Dell would earn the second semifinal berth based on their head-to-head victory over Bellaire.) However, if Hazel Dell scored again, Bellaire's runs-per-defensive inning ratio would be better than Davenport's, and the only way Hazel Dell could advance ahead of the Iowans would be by beating them.

Tom Peavey's team didn't quit. Josh Hash roped a two-run single in the fourth that tied the game and made victory a necessary element for Hazel Dell, but Davenport countered with two in the fifth to eliminate the Western champions from the World Series. Little League President Steven Keener observed that "I don't think there has ever been a Little League manager in the history of the World Series who has more clearly demonstrated the ideals of Little League Baseball than Tom Peavey. He had his team doing its best trying to win . . . (Hazel Dell) could have taken the low road, and they took the high road instead."

The team that re-wrote the definition of a perfect game ended their season with a victory, regardless of the result on the field.

Linescores:

Bracket 1 Winner's Bracket Finals	1	2	3	4	5	6		R	H	E
Huntington Beach Ocean View	3	0	1	5	5			14	9	3
Canyon del Oro	0	0	1	0	2			3	3	0
Bracket 2 Winner's Bracket Finals
Boulder Arrowhead	0	0	0	0				0	0	0
Hazel Dell	3	4	7	x				13	10	0
Bracket 1 Loser's Bracket Finals
Albuquerque Eastdale	1	0	0	1	0	0		2	5	3
Canyon del Oro	1	0	3	0	0	x		4	6	0
Bracket 2 Loser's Bracket Finals
Taylorsville	1	6	0	0	1	0		8	7	3
Boulder Arrowhead	0	5	4	0	0	x		9	7	0
Bracket 1 Championship Game
Huntington Beach Ocean View	1	0	1	0	1	0		3	5	1
Canyon del Oro	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	5	2
Bracket 2 Championship Game
Boulder Arrowhead	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	4	1
Hazel Dell	0	0	3	0	3	x		6	6	0
Western Region Championship Game
Hazel Dell	0	0	1	0	1	1		3	2	0
Huntington Beach Ocean View	0	0	0	0	0	2		2	0	3

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