This was not your typical Western Region tournament.

The pre-tournament assumption, as usual, was that the Southern California champion would pass through San Bernardino, improve on the 37-1 record that SoCal teams have racked up since 1992, and head to South Williamsport with their eighth consecutive region title in hand.

You would be considered open-minded if you heeded caution, noting that SoCal first had to get past Northern California's champion, or if you declared that teams from Hawaii or Arizona, two traditionally strong states, might steal the tournament crown after coming through the supposedly weaker bracket. After all, Hawaii was represented by a two-time region champion in the Pearl City Little League, and Arizona brought a strong baseball pedigree, with former major league pitcher Floyd Bannister's son and hall-of-famer Robin Yount's nephew on their roster.

But Idaho?

The South Central Boise Little League doesn't have much of a history. Prior to 1999, the league had never won a district title -- but then again, South Central was not chartered until 1997. South Central's league is also smaller than most, fielding only four teams at the major league level.

At the Western Region tournament, South Central Boise stood taller than everyone. In one of the most stunning upsets in Western Region history, Dane McGrady -- Boise's third-best pitcher entering the tournament -- fired a two-hitter as South Central Boise upended Sacramento Airport (NoCal) 3-1 in the championship game of the Western Region tournament at Al Houghton Stadium.

McGrady was in control throughout the championship game. He set the tone early by sending Airport down 1-2-3 in the first inning, denying the Sacramento club the quick start that had become Airport's trademark throughout its tournament run. South Central then seized the momentum with a three run rally in the top of the second inning that put the Idaho club in front for good. McGrady did not allow a hit until the fourth inning, and was touched only for an unearned run in the fifth. After Airport cracked the scoreboard when Richard Hernandez' bunt and a subsequent error scored Dave Rodriguez, McGrady's response was emphatic. He ended the game by registering five consecutive swinging strikeouts, punching out hitters in the one through five slots of the NoCal batting order -- hitters who had been the heart of Airport's offensive attack throughout tournament play.

McGrady took the mound in the championship game because South Central used its top two pitchers, Devon Biddinger and Bryan Champ, in the 5-0 win over Beaverton Murrayhill (OR) that landed the Idahoans in the championship game. And if the idea that Idaho's number three pitcher could dominate in the region championship game seems surreal, consider that South Central's game winning rally was keyed by the eight and nine place hitters in the Idaho lineup.

After Biddinger struck out to open the second, Devin Weaver singled and moved to second on a passed ball. NoCal pitcher Xavier Esquivel recorded another strikeout, but eighth place hitter Jason Christie chopped a double over the head of third baseman Marcus Taylor that scored Weaver with the game's first run. Three pitches later, second baseman Stephan Fife cued a double just inside the right field line that scored Christie. After a walk and a hit batter, Champ rolled a single up the middle that scored Fife with Boise's third run.

South Central Boise certainly did not look like the tournament favorites in their Western Region opener, an eleven inning, 7-6 struggle against Montana's Missoula Southside LL. The Idaho club trailed Missoula 3-0 early, and needed an unearned run in the sixth inning to force extra innings. Facing Montana's second pitcher -- ace James Ewing had pitched a sparkling two-hitter in Missoula's opening round upset of North Scottsdale (AZ) -- South Central battled into extra innings, but fell behind 6-3 in the top of the eleventh. South Central then rallied -- Champ's two-run triple cut the Southside lead to 6-5, and Austin Jones completed the comeback by slapping a two-run, game-ending homer.

The Idaho representatives needed extra innings again in their next outing, a 7-4 win over Oregon's Murrayhill LL. South Central fell behind 2-0 and later blew a 4-2 lead before Jones came through in extra innings again, this time with a bases-loaded single that drove home two runs and propelled SCB to the championship game of their bracket. Boise met Murrayhill again in the bracket championship game, and Jones was again the hitting hero as Boise defeated Murrayhill 5-0 to clinch a title game berth. His two-run double in the first opened the scoring, and turned out to be all the runs that Idaho would need as Biddinger and Champ combined for a three-hit shutout in South Central's victory.

Airport had a tougher route to the title game, and had to do something that no Western Region team had ever done before -- beat Southern California twice -- to advance to the title game. In the first meeting, Airport jumped to a 3-0 lead over Anaheim Hills West before the Southland contingent scored four times in the fourth to take the lead. Sacramento tied the game with an unearned run in the fourth, then snapped the tie in the fifth when Elias Garcia scored on Gerald Acevedo's single and a subsequent two-base error. Taylor then singled home Acevedo to give NoCal its final 6-4 margin of victory.

Airport advanced to their bracket championship game with a tough 6-2 extra inning win over Albuquerque Eastdale, and Anaheim Hills rolled to three straight wins to earn a rematch with the NoCal champions. Airport again built an early lead, as Taylor's RBI single in the first and Garcia's three-run homer in the fifth pushed the NoCal team to a 4-0 lead. Anaheim Hills cut the lead to 4-3, and put the potential tying and winning runs on base in the bottom of the sixth inning before Acevedo registered two strikeouts to end the game.

South Central Boise's run to the Western Region title overshadowed all other storylines eminating from Al Houghton Stadium. Missoula Southside checked into San Bernardino with Montana's strongest representative in recent memory, and James Ewing finished as the tournament's leading home run hitter with four round-trippers. Albuquerque Eastdale, fresh off their third consecutive New Mexico state championship, took Sacramento Airport into extra innings before falling and then went toe-to-toe with Anaheim Hills West before losing 3-1. Even Ketchikan, the Alaska state champion, got into the act. Ketchikan defeated Green River (WY) 10-0 in a consolation bracket game that was stopped by the mercy rule after four innings. The win marked only the second shutout ever by an Alaska team at the Western Region tournament, and was Alaska's second-largest margin of victory ever.

Ultimately, though, the story was South Central Boise. The Idaho champions caught a number of breaks along the way. South Central was placed in the bracket opposite the California teams, and never had to face the two traditionally stronger states that were placed in their bracket, as Arizona suffered a first round upset loss to Montana (in a game that ensured South Central would not face Montana's ace), and an eleven-year-old dominated Pearl City, HI squad was perhaps a year away from its potential. South Central also benefitted from a first-round bye, and missed facing NoCal's ace pitcher in the championship game when Airport manager Melvin Walker chose to use Acevedo against Anaheim Hills in the bracket championship game.

The fact remains that South Central Boise did everything that was asked of them at San Bernardino, including producing the timely hits and clutch pitching that have been the trademark of Western Region champions of the past. Over a two-week span, the team went from being an afterthought in the fourteen team region tournament field to Idaho's first ever representative at the Little League World Series. The Best in the West finished their stay at South Williamsport with a 1-2 record, but their most important win came under the lights of Al Houghton Stadium.

Linescores:

Bracket 'A' Winner's Bracket Finals	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8		R	H	E
South Central Boise	0	0	0	0	4	0	3			7	7	3
Beaverton Murrayhill	0	0	2	0	2	0	0			4	6	3
Bracket 'B' Winner's Bracket Finals
Sacramento Airport	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	4		6	7	1
Albuquerque Eastdale	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0		2	4	2
Bracket 'A' Loser's Bracket Finals
Beaverton Murrayhill	0	0	1	1	3	1				6	6	3
North Scottsdale	4	1	0	0	0	0				5	5	1
Bracket 'B' Loser's Bracket Finals
Albuquerque Eastdale	0	0	0	0	0	1				1	5	1
Anaheim Hills West	0	0	3	0	0	x				3	3	0
Bracket 'A' Championship Game
Beaverton Murrayhill	0	0	0	0	0	0				0	3	1
South Central Boise	3	0	0	0	2	x				5	7	2
Bracket 'B' Championship Game
Sacramento Airport	1	0	0	0	3	0				4	3	0
Anaheim Hills West	0	0	0	0	2	1				3	7	0
West Region Championship Game
South Central Boise	0	3	0	0	0	0				3	7	1
Sacramento Airport	0	0	0	0	1	0				1	2	2

---

Toward the past

Toward the present

---

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