ROCKLIN — There’s a reason why San Mateo American is still playing. They’ve been here before.

San Carlos is off and running the Northern California Division II Juniors All-Stars Tournament.

Joe Freitas has been synonymous with South San Francisco Colt baseball for nearly a half century.

D.J. Sharabi capped his high school career at Burlingame by getting the start on the mound and earning the 7-4 win in the 2010 Central Coast Section Division II championship over a Palo Alto squad that came into the game riding a 24-game winning streak.

NEWARK — One wild inning after another.

DANVILLE — A loud and enthusiastic pro-Danville crowd, a strike zone that made no one happy and the pressure of being the top seed all worked against San Mateo American in the winner-take-all championship finale against Danville in the Section 3 tournament.

Media folks are a fickle bunch. They can have one opinion one day and then completely flip the next. I’m just as guilty of it as anyone, but it doesn’t make much sense to cling to your opinion, especially when it’s just wrong, in light of new information.

Small victories add up to big outcomes.

DANVILLE — San Mateo American and Danville are all square at the Section 3 10-11 year-old All-Star tournament and will meet in a rubber match Wednesday in Danville for all the marbles: the Section 3 tournament title and a spot in the Northern California state tournament.

In the spirit of the Olympics, which atonight? Wednesday morning? The time change to countries in Asia always takes a few days for me to figure out), I thought I’d give you an update on a couple of athletes who are competing on the national and international level – just not at the Olympic l…

Four former Stanford and Cal soccer players will help the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games get an early start on Wednesday. The USA Women’s Soccer team plays Sweden in a 5:30 p.m. (Japan Time) Group G match.

The San Mateo American Majors All-Stars may get the last laugh after all as it waits to play either Danville of Castro Valley in the Section 3 tournament final Tuesday.

Jorge Chen, head coach for the Menlo School track and field team, was driving home from the high school national championships at famed Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus when he got the call July 3.

After seven seasons as a varsity head baseball coach, Anthony Granato is stepping away from Sacred Heart Prep.

Much like everything else in the Bay Area, the amount of money Bob Hammer has raised to fight cancer through his Have A Ball golf tournament has grown exponentially. In 2011, seven years after the initial event, the tournament reached the $1 million-mark in funds raised for cancer organizations.

Steve Johnson, an amateur boxer who fights out of San Mateo’s B Street Boxing, was nicknamed “School Boy” when he started boxing as a 13 year old. It was an apt description since not only was Johnson excelling in the boxing ring, but also in the classroom.

Since falling to the elimination bracket in the Northern California Division II Intermediate All-Stars Tournament, San Mateo American has had to mind its economy of pitching fairly tightly.

Two weeks seems like a long time, but my vacation seemed to zoom by and now I'm back at it. While I took a break from the day-to-day grind of the sports world, it was still spinning relentlessly around me, giving me plenty of fodder for my first column back (somewhat) refreshed.

Once upon a time, Fresno State third baseman Ryan Higgins was a teammate of San Francisco Giants prospect Hunter Bishop. The two played for the same San Carlos Little League team, the Tigers, for two years.

Griff McGarry is high voltage. This according to the University of Virginia Baseball Twitter feed Monday afternoon, just after McGarry was announced as the fifth-round draft pick of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Jace Jeremiah may hold a black belt in taekwondo. But the shortstop’s defensive gem Saturday for GamePrep Baseball Academy was some straight-up Spider-Man stuff.

The well-traveled 17-and-under players of GamePrep Baseball Academy’s 2022 Team are the county’s new reigning road warriors.

What a heartbreaking loss, and a harrowing fourth inning, Alpine endured Thursday night in the District 52 Little League All-Stars 11-12s Tournament championship finale.

Baseball can be a funny game.

PALO ALTO — Talk about a teachable moment.

PALO ALTO — San Mateo American has faced a long road through the District 52 Little League All-Stars 11-12s Tournament.

Be nice to your Little League umpires, folks. The boys in blue are in short supply.

After being hired as the new men’s basketball coach at Foothill College, it would be easy for Mike Reynoso to identify rivals as the two schools immediately to the north.

From the moment Alpine pitcher Brandon Sweeney rubbed up the baseball prior to the start of the District 52 Little League All-Stars 9-10s Tournament championship game, it was clear the right-hander was going to be a force to be reckoned with.

LIVERMORE — There’s nothing as American as hot dogs and apple pie, so the saying goes.

The kid brothers Alpine Little League sure are putting on a show.

It was like that Phil Collins song “In the Air Tonight.” And the San Mateo American bats were the drum solo.

If you’re one who strives for perfection, the 2021 College of San Mateo Bulldogs were the softball team for you.

They threw a no-hitter. They won a District 52 banner. Yet you wouldn’t know it from the everyday reaction to the final out of the San Carlos All-Stars championship run in the District 52 Juniors Tournament.

San Mateo American’s pitching just keeps getting better.

PORTOLA VALLEY — Menlo-Atherton has been involved in two shutouts through its first two games in the District 52 Little League All-Stars 9-10s Tournament.

Megan Grant is living the dream.

PALO ALTO — After a cancelled 2020 season, the annual District 52 Little League All-Stars are back at long last.

Complete-game gems have been Arnav Prathipati’s bread and butter this season. Mashing home runs? Not too much.

There was a buzz of excitement at Palo Alto High School Friday as dozens of football players from 16 Central Coast Section schools converged on the stadium football field — and nearby baseball diamond — for the first 7-on-7 passing tournament of the summer.

2020 was supposed to be the year for San Mateo American.

Like a lot of high school athletes, Calem Filipek has the dream of playing professionally. For him, the dream is a pro baseball career.

With the Central Coast Section track and field, and baseball championships concluded this past Saturday, the 2020-21 high school athletic season has officially come to an end.

Alpine pitcher Logan George certainly found a unique way to fire up his teammates.

There was a moment in Sequoia’s postgame celebration after winning the Central Coast Section Division II baseball championship that really hit home.

Having just finished her junior year at Aragon High School, softball extraordinaire Megan Grant touched down Monday in Oklahoma City.

The goal in track and field is to always be improving and to time your best performance for the biggest stage.

Those who follow boxing know that the sport is as much mental as it is physical. It takes a special type of person to simply work up the nerve to climb into the ring and accept the fact you will get punched in the face, but there is a more esoteric mental aspect of the game.

The District 52 Majors Superbowl baseball tournament featured some good, old-fashioned offense this year.

LOS ALTOS — A dirtier starting nine you will not see.