By ANTHONY MASSEY

CORRESPONDENT

SAN BERNARDINO (Calif.) – Makayla Miller hurled an abbreviated no-hitter in South Snohomish Little League’s opening game at the West Region Softball Tournament.

Miller struck out seven and walked two in a dominant performance as Washington’s 11- and 12-year-old champions downed Centennial Little League from Sparks, Nevada, 11-0 in four innings, on Friday night.

“It was really fun,” Miller said. “I was excited. We came here, saw the field and I just wanted to play.”

Miller allowed base runners into scoring position in the first and fourth innings but got out of both jams with strikeouts.

“I thought I was hitting spots pretty good,” Miller said.

She struck out the side in the third inning and had strikeouts in all four innings.

“She had a good fastball but she’s usually sharper,” manager Fred Miller said. “She had a couple of walks which she normally doesn’t.”

Miller added a double, a triple and two RBI, and Maya Erling had a pair of hits and two RBI for South Snohomish (1-0 overall), which is currently riding a three-game shutout streak in which it also has scored 10-or-more runs.

After Miller doubled and scored in the fourth, KiKi Jameson ended the game with a bases-clearing triple.

“It was just awesome. I wasn’t thinking about the runners. I just had to keep running,” Jameson said. “I thought I was going to have my first home run but I had to crawl back to third.”

South Snohomish next plays Burbank Little League (Southern California) at 5 p.m. today.

@MasseyScribe or anthonymassey365@gmail.com