Alpine 10s roll to title

Alpine came into the District 52 10s All-Star tournament championship series needing to be beaten twice by Redwood City, which was trying to win five straight games out of the loser’s bracket to win its first district title since 2008.

And the Redwood City squad almost got there. It set up Tuesday’s winner-take-all championship game after a stunning, three-run, walk-off home run off the bat of Camilo Scherer Monday night that gave Redwood City its fourth straight win.

But if Alpine manager Tim Katz had any fears his team would be ready for Tuesday’s game, they were quickly allayed.

By the end of dinner, actually.

“I was nervous they would come out flat,” Katz said. “I think they were shellshocked in the moment.”

But he said the Alpine parents have started a tradition of dinner after games and Katz noticed by the time they were done eating, his team seemed to have flushed Monday’s game.

“by the end of dinner, they were back to themselves,” Katz said.

And with ace Keegan Wolf on the mound, Alpine didn’t have much to worry about. Wolf held Redwood City to just four hits as the Alpine offense took advantage of some sloppy defensive play from Redwood City as Alpine rolled to a 13-0, four-inning, mercy-rule victory — giving Alpine its first District 52 crown since winning the 2021 10s title.

“[Wolf] pumps strikes and has a great off-speed pitch,” Katz said. “He’s a true pitcher.”

Wolf made three appearances in the tournament without allowing a run. He started Game 2, a 12-0 win over Foster City, and combined with Wilson Shank to throw a no-hitter. He got the start in the winner’s bracket final against San Mateo American Saturday, throwing three scoreless innings, but he was relieved after just 50 pitches to make him eligible for Tuesday’s game.

Alpine held off San Mateo American 10-9 and Wolf took the bump after Monday’s dramatics.

“I was really excited (for Tuesday’s start). We all knew we had another game (after Monday’s loss),” Wolf said. “I was sad about coming out Saturday, but I wanted to pitch [Tuesday].”

By the time he took the mound, he was already working with a 2-0 lead and his teammates kept adding on. Alpine scored six more in the second, two in the third and capped things with three in the top of the fourth.

Wolf then finished with a flourish, striking the heart of the Redwood City batting order to end the game.

Redwood City certainly didn’t help its chances by committing seven errors, including four in the third inning when Alpine scored two times without benefit of a hit.

“Coming out of the loser’s bracket is tough,” Katz said. “They had to win five in a row. They won four.”

Lolo McNeil had the big bat for Alpine Tuesday night as he drove in four runs. His grounder in the first inning drove in the first run of the game, with Wolf scoring after leading off the game with a walk after being down 0-2 in the count.

Wolf went to second on a wild pitch, took third on a sharp single from Tommy Masters and scored on McNeil’s grounder. Masters would eventually come around and score on a wild pitch to give Alpine a quick 2-0 lead.

The second inning saw Alpine put the ball in play most consistently, as it scored six runs on four hits. The bottom half of the order got the rally started, as four of the first five batters of the inning reached base and ultimately scored.

Cole Shortal was hit by a pitch before Redwood City shortstop Matthew Larsen made the defensive play of the game, robbing Easton Morrison when Larsen reached high to make a stabbing, backhand catch of a Morrison line drive for the first out of the inning.

Carlo Minitti, who moved to shortstop in the third inning for Redwood City, also came up with a web gem, make a catch of a line drive that carried him toward second base, where he doubled up the baserunner.

Patrick Low Ahkee kept the second-inning rally going by reaching on an infield hit. Dante Delfino followed with an RBI single to center and Andrew Sutkin reached on an error to turn the lineup over.

After a groundout for the second out of the inning, Charlie Katz walked and Masters singled before McNeil came up with the big blow – a two-run triple into the right-field corner, which drove in Charlie Katz and Masters for an 8-0 Alpine lead.

“That triple broke the game open,” Tim Katz said. “[McNeil] has been great for us all tournament.”

Redwood City broke up any thoughts of a Wolf perfect game when Scherer drew a leadoff walk in the second and the no-hitter was gone a batter later when Grady Harmon singled.

But Wolf threw out the lead runner at third on a comebacker; Alpine again cut down the lead runner at second base for the second out of the inning before Alpine second baseman Tayo An made a nifty backhand stop and fed shortstop Charlie Katz for another forceout at second to end the inning.

In the top of the third, three-quarters of the Redwood City infield committed at least one error as Huddy Rich and Morrison each scored without benefit of a hit as Alpine upped its lead to 10-0.

Redwood City strung some hits together in the bottom of the third, with Hunter Karcich, Brennan Newby and Larsen all collecting singles, but Redwood City could not push across a run.

Alpine rounded out the scoring with three more runs in the top of the fourth as McNeil picked up his fourth RBI of the game with a solid single to center. Charlie Katz and Shank each drove in a run as well in the inning.

“I was proud of the energy in the dugout,” Tim Katz said.

Alpine now moves on to the section tournament, which is hosted by Hayward’s District 45 and begins Saturday, July 12.