The Northwest 16U Blaze were not only the best team in the recent 16U "A" Regional Qualifier at Batch Fields, they were also the classiest bunch in the 26-team tournament. Even the coach of the team they beat in the championship admitted that.

After three grueling days, the Blaze edged the Southern California Desperados 1-0 in the title contest at Batch Fields. The winning blow of a scoreless pitchers' duel was a solo home run over the centerfield fence by shortstop Jordan Kreiger.

"All I was doing was trying to hit the ball to the right side," explained an exhilarated Kreiger after the game. "My first two times up were groundouts to third, so I was just trying to hit it somewhere else. I had no idea it was going to go over, I was just glad to finally get a base hit. And when the centerfielder kept running back and I saw it go over her head, I yelled 'Yes!' "

Kreiger added, "I've had a couple homers in high school, but this is my first one in ASA. And its my first regional championship, and this is my first interview. Pretty intense."

Northwest pitchers Sloan Anderson and Kaitlin Inglesby combined for the shutout, giving up a total of five hits. They collaborated for six strikeouts.

Left-hander Anderson throws pretty hard, but Inglesby, a 15-year old righty, is even faster. Her fastball was clocked at 62 miles per hour over the weekend, but she reportedly has been clocked as high as 65 mph.

Desperados hurler Chelsey Bertoglio, who scattered just seven hits, was stuck with a tough loss.

"We're real excited to qualify for nationals, and it's even a bigger bonus to win the championship," said Northwest coach Chris Kelly. "We beat some real quality teams to get the title."

The Blaze are from Beaverton, Ore. Coach Kelly described how they almost missed their first game last Friday, which would have disqualified them.

"Our flight out of Portland was delayed by three hours, so we missed our plane in Denver and had to spend the night there. Friday morning we flew into Missoula and there were no flights to Helena, so then we had to rent several vehicles and drive here. We pulled into Helena less than hour before our first game," Kelly said.

While receiving the runner-up trophies, Desperados coach Steve Joiner told the Blaze, "I hate to lose as much, or more, than anyone. But if we have to lose, this is a loss that I can take, because you (Northwest) play the game right ... the way it's supposed to be played."

Tournament director Don Bartsch agreed.

"The Blaze exemplified sportsmanship," Bartsch said. "Our local girls learned so much by just watching them, and seeing what 16 year olds are capable of doing."

The top-four placers at the Northwest Regionals qualified for nationals in Owensboro, Kentucky. But since the tournament is out of the Desperados' region, they had to take first, or not qualify at all.

Placing third in the Qualifier were the Northwest Wildfire, while the Forest Grove Rampage took fourth.

The tournament was held under beautiful, sunny conditions, with hardly a cloud in the sky on Saturday and Sunday. The weather was hot for Montana, although an assistant coach for the Desperados nnn who hail from San Clemente, Calif. nn reminded this reporter that last week his team competed in a tournament in Southern California in 115-degree temperatures.

Reporter Curt Synness: 449-2150 or curt52s@bresnan.net