Cypress Federal stood one out away from elimination in the West Region championship game before rallying to force extra innings and then claim a 3-1 victory over Woodinville West on Matt Swims' dramatic two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Cypress' win made them the seventh consecutive Southern California representative to win the West Region tournament and advance to the World Series.

Woodinville had silenced the 10,000-strong partisan crowd by carrying a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning in the title game. The Washington state champions took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when rightfielder Hans Stolz slid home safely on a close play (television replays suggested that Stolz was actually out on the play). The precarious lead held up as pitcher Duke Welker shut down the high-powered Southern California attack. Welker took a two-hitter into the sixth inning despite being hit in the lower back by a hard line drive in the fourth inning, and was helped by his teammates when Woodinville turned a 6-4-3 double play in the sixth inning.

Down to their last out with the bases empty, Cypress rallied to tie the game. Brian Pepperdine topped a single just out of the reach of shortstop Matt Tuiasosopo, and then scored when Zach Wesley dumped a soft line drive into the right center field gap. Woodinville escaped further damage in the sixth, but in the seventh, Zach Wingo opened with a walk, and two outs later, Swims drilled the game-ending homer that punched Cypress' ticket to Williamsport.

Cypress breezed past four opponents to advance to the West Region title game. The champions of California's District 29 -- who also won the West Region title in 1990 -- opened with a 17-1 thumping of the Gastineau Channel East LL of Juneau, Alaska. Every Cypress player had either a hit or an RBI in the rout, and Cypress' 17-hit attack was paced by home runs from Alex Alba (two solo shots), Wesley, and Wingo. Two nights later, Cypress raced to an early 12-0 lead in a 15-1 pounding of Beaverton (OR) Murrayhill. Pat Cassa was 3-for-3 with four runs scored and a grand slam home run; winning pitcher Alba was 3-for-3 at the plate and hit his third homer of the tournament.

Alba and pinch hitter Nathan Lara supplied the longball in Cypress' 3-1 victory over an Albuquerque Eastdale squad that returned the majority of its roster from the prior year's New Mexico state championship club. Alba snapped a 1-1 tie with a leadoff homer in the fifth, and Lara delivered his round-tripper leading off the sixth. Swims picked up the win despite working out of trouble throughout the game (Eastdale left runners in scoring position in five of the game's six innings) to best New Mexico's James Parr. Parr struck out 13 and allowed only five hits in the loss.

Beaverton Murrayhill bested Eastdale 6-2 the next day to set up a rematch with Cypress, but the Southern California champions edged Murrayhill 3-2 to advance to the tournament's championship game. Cypress Federal's opponent in the title game would be Washington's Woodinville West LL. Woodinville, which also won the Washington crown in 1995, won four of its five games to claim the title in the other bracket.

Woodinville's opening round win over Wyoming's Laramie LL introduced Tuiasosopo, easily the most dominant player at the tournament, to the West Region competition. Tuiasosopo -- son of the former Seattle Seahawk lineman and brother to both a University of Washington quarterback and an All-American collegiate volleyball player -- relied on his imposing 75MPH fastball to overpower Laramie in a one-hit, 14 strikeout performance. Tuiasosopo required just 65 pitches in the complete game victory, and helped his cause with a triple, a double, and three runs scored at the plate.

Woodinville next defeated Las Vegas' Paradise Valley American LL. Andy Lentz allowed only two hits through 4-1/3 innings, and Welker recorded the last five outs as Woodinville West defeated Paradise Valley 5-1 and advanced to the winner's bracket finals against Idaho's East Boise American LL.

Tuiasosopo again took the mound for Woodinville, and he met his equal in East Boise's Kurt Dykstra. Each pitcher threw nine shutout innings before Little League rules forced the pair to give way to relief pitchers. Tuiasosopo broke the tie in the tenth by slamming a 300' grand slam home run high over the center field fence. Joey Dunn later added a two-run blast to give Woodinville an insurmountable 6-0 led, and Dykstra clubbed a three-run homer for East Boise in the bottom of the tenth to complete the scoring. In the win, Tuiasosopo struck out 17, walked only four, and surrendered only two hits. Dykstra, who struck out 11, cruised through the first ten Woodinville hitters before beginning to labor. He worked out of several jams, and threw 139 pitches over the course of his nine inning outing.

Woodinville's opponent in the title game of its bracket was the Tassajara Valley LL from Danville, California. The Northern California champions lost their tournament opener to Waipio, Hawaii (Jayson Kira celebrated his 13th birthday with a two-hit complete game, and Hawaii capitalized on six Tassajara Valley errors), then won four consecutive games to earn a berth in the title series against Woodinville West. Tassajara Valley outscored its opponents 43-18 in its four victories, and then chalked up its fifth win in a row by defeating Woodinville West 9-2 to force an 'if' game. Matt Carter and Justin Banks belted solo home runs to give the NoCal champions an early lead that they never relinquished.

Tassajara Valley's victory was good news for Cypress: it forced Woodinville coach Mike Lentz to send Tuiasosopo to the mound in the Tassajara Valley rematch rather than having him available for the title game matchup with Cypress. Tuiasosopo capped a stellar tournament-long performance on the mound with a 16 strikeout, three-hit shutout of the potent Tassajara Valley offense in Woodinville West's 5-0 victory. For the tournament, Tuiasosopo pitched 21 innings, allowed no runs and six hits, recorded 47 strikeouts, and issued only five walks.

Cypress followed its emotional victory at San Bernardino with a competitive showing at the World Series. Cypress lost close games to eventual World Series champion Toms River East American (NJ) and U.S. runner-up Greenville Tarheel (NC) in finishing with a 1-2 tournament record.

Linescores:

Championship Game	1	2	3	4	5	6	7		R	H	E
Woodinville West	0	0	1	0	0	0	0		1	5	0
Cypress Federal	0	0	0	0	0	1	2		3	6	2

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