A San Mateo American dream

And drama. Tons of drama.

But in the end, it was San Mateo that got to experience the Hollywood ending, scoring five runs in the top of the seventh inning to turn a 1-1 tie into a 6-1 win at Castro Valley’s Five Canyons Field Wednesday night.

“It was an amazing game, ” said San Mateo manager Paul Witten. “I love it.”

To boil it down to the essentials, San Mateo starting pitcher Landon King was brilliant and also came through at the plate, driving in the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh inning.

But it was Willy Folau who put the icing on the cake with a towering, opposite-field grand slam to right field to put San Mateo up 6-1.

With the win, San Mateo American adds the Section 3 title to the District 52 crown and gives them a spot in the Northern California state tournament beginning Saturday in Watsonville.

It also gave San Mateo a little bit of revenge. Playing in the U11 tournament last year, San Mateo lost the two-game championship series to essentially the same team Danville team it beat Wednesday in Castro Valley.

“The rivalry isn’t going away any time soon," Witten said.

The game started with King and Danville’s Colin Schmiegel hooking up in a brilliant pitching matchup. Schmiegel worked four innings, allowing one run on four hits, striking out six.

Not only was King just as good, he was dominant at times. He also allowed just one run on just two hits as he worked into the fifth inning before his pitch count ended his outing. Along the way, though, King struck out 10 Danville batters.

“Unbelievable, with several exclamation points, ” Witten said of King’s performance. “He always has a tremendous amount of pressure on him. … But I told him, ‘You should be so lucky to pitch in a game like this.’

“I could not have been more proud of him.”

King struck out three in the first and two each in the second, third and fourth innings before adding one more in the 6th. There were times he tried to throw it through the backstop, but he always collected himself and made a good pitch on the next.

“That was as poised and composed I’ve ever seen from him, ” Witten said.

With pitchers dealing, offense was at a premium. Both teams had their chances and both struggled to push runs across. Both teams had runners on first and second with less than two outs in the first and neither team managed to score.

San Mateo got on the scoreboard in the top of the second. With D.J. Ruiz on with a leadoff double and Evan Gilbert drawing a one-out walk, No. 9 hitter Easton Vina came to the plate. On a 1-2 pitch, he dumped an opposite-field single to right to drive in Ruiz for a 1-0 San Mateo.

It was shortlived. In the bottom of the inning, Danville’s Dylan Duoss worked a 3-1 count before unloading to left field for a solo home run to tie the game. King settled down, however, and retired the next three batters.

It stayed that way until the seventh. In the meantime, San Mateo had scoring chances in the third when the game’s first controversy cropped up. With Nicky Loew on first with a walk, Ruiz came up with two out and hit a sinking fly ball to right field. The Danville outfielder came rushing in, making a head-first dive. It appeared he short-hopped the ball, but the initial ruling was caught ball, third out, inning over.

But Witten asked the umps to review the play and it was eventually overturned, giving Ruiz a single.

It was all for naught, however, as Schmiegel struck out the next batter to end the inning.

San Mateo’s next chance to score came in the top of the sixth. Folau reached on an error and pinch runner Apollo Lee went to second on Ruiz’s third hit of the game. Jake McGee put down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third.

But Danville reliever Michael Jones worked out of the jam. Gilbert hit a pitch on the screws — right at the Danville second baseman for the second out. A strikeout ended the threat and Danville celebrated accordingly.

But San Mateo reliever Mrowka shut down Danville in the bottom of the inning, giving up a one-out single.

“We didn’t cash in enough, ” Witten said. “I knew it would be a grind.”

In the seventh, San Mateo finally broke through. Yeh and Mrowka both singled and King followed with an RBI single to left, with Witten sending Yeh for a close play at the plate. But the ball got by the catcher and Yeh gave San Mateo a 2-1 lead.

Loew was then hit by a pitch to load the bases to bring up Folau, whose blast sent the San Mateo fans into a celebratory frenzy.

Then, there was a delay. Witten said the Danville coaching staff wanted to play the game under protest, accusing San Mateo baserunners of stealing signs. Witten said he would have had to be warned first before a protest could be lodged. After about a 10-minute delay, the home plate umpire officially warned both benches for stealing signs.

It mattered little. Danville got out the inning without any more damage and then went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the seventh to set off a San Mateo celebration.

“To beat Danville. That was the goal (this summer), ” Witten said. “This (win) was super sweet. That’s such a good (Danville) team.”