Key Peninsula 10-11s take fourth in Little League district tourney

Keough, Kopp combine for four HRs, seven RBIs

Marques Hunter

of the Gateway

The Key Peninsula Little League 10- and 11-year-old batters’ eyes had been tracking the ball well during their first two games of the District 2 Little League tournament.

They had scored 23 runs and cut both games short via the 10-run mercy rule.

Key Peninsula hit six home runs in a pair of wins last week. They topped Bainbridge Island Blue 10-0 and Gig Harbor National 13-3.

But in the semifinals against South Kitsap Southern on Saturday at the Gig Harbor Little League Complex, the bats didn’t show up.

Although Key Peninsula’s pitching was good, a few defensive miscues led to four runs and just three hits during a 4-2 loss.

Key Peninsula finished fourth when it fell to South Kitsap Eastern 6-5 on Sunday.

Going into the semifinals, Key Peninsula bats were alive. They smacked four homers in their big win over Gig Harbor National, despite trailing 3-0 before they got a chance to bat.

That was plenty of motivation to get warmed up.

In the bottom of the first, leadoff batter Josh Keough put a charge into the first pitch thrown by Gig Harbor National’s DJ Reisinger. Keough took it deep over the left-field fence for a solo home run.

Key Peninsula Manager Scott Russell said Keough’s home run helped get the team back on track.

KP starting pitcher JT Kopp threw 28 pitches in the first inning, but he settled down to throw a complete game and didn’t allow another run to cross the plate.

Offensively, Kopp boosted his team by hitting two home runs.

“Our hitting was on, and after the first inning, we didn’t make too many errors,” Kopp said “That’s what won the game for us.”

Kopp added that the first inning was disappointing, but he knew his team could come back.

“This was a big win,” he said. “I was pretty glad we 10-runned them.”

The Nationals were coming off a dramatic 13-12 victory over North Kitsap American in the opening round of the tournament. The game drained Gig Harbor’s pitching staff and forced Nationals Manager Gary Gallinger to use his Nos. 3 and 4 pitchers against Key Peninsula.

“Our pitching was a little bit crippled,” Gallinger said. “But it gave some of my pitchers experience, if we’re going to come up through the loser’s bracket.”

Following the loss to Key Peninsula, the Nationals were eliminated by South Kitsap Eastern, 2-0.