SK Eastern and Southern battle for their playoff lives

One team is riding on momentum while the other is looking to recapture the magic it had when it won the first two games of the Little League District 2 Major All-Star tournament in Manchester.

South Kitsap Southern, which lost its opening game of the tournament, won its last two games going into yesterday’s matchup against either Bainbridge Island or Port Townsend.

Eastern, meanwhile, watched its two-game winning streak end abruptly in a 16-0, four-inning loss to East Jefferson Thursday afternoon.

The 10-run rule was in effect.

Results of both SK games yesterday were unavailable at press time.

What looked like a promising run in the tournament turned into an East Jefferson whitewash behind the power hitting of Trevor Cosilito (three-run home run) and John Modispacher (two-run home run, three RBI).

Cosilito helped East Jefferson’s cause with a no-hitter, allowing just one base runner.

Eastern coach Dale Cooper couldn’t find any answers for an East Jefferson team that tallied 12 hits in four innings.

Before Eastern went through its lineup one time, East Jefferson already held a commanding 11-0 lead.

The body language of the Eastern players said it all, too. East was plagued with errors and marred by a lack of hustle.

“That’s being 12 years old,” Cooper said. “When you’re 12 years old, they have a change of emotions real fast. Learning lessons, that’s the name of the game.”

Because of the change of emotions, Cooper was hoping his team would revive itself yesterday.

“It’s a new day,” he said Thursday. “We’re still in it. There are a lot of teams that aren’t in it. Who knows what the new day will bring.”

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SK Southern maintained its pulse in the tournament behind dominant pitching from Brady Steiger and Chris Sizemore.

Fresh off of Steiger’s no-hitter Monday against Sequim, Sizemore followed suit Wednesday with a one-hitter in a 5-0 win against Gig Harbor National.

Steiger and his John Olerud-eque swing came through again with a three-run home run in the third inning and a single in the sixth inning.

Daniel Lathrop added an RBI groundout and Scott Smith scored on a wild pitch to conclude the scoring.

Sizemore was brilliant on the mound, striking out nine batters and walking just one, while giving up one hit.

If both SK teams won yesterday, they would meet up in a loser-out semifinal game.

SK Western, the other SK team in the tournament, was eliminated from the tournament after losing 3-0 to North Kitsap American.

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