Alpine power show: For first time since 2001, Alpine wins District 52 12s title

“We all have the ability to hit homers, these lefties” Alpine’s Kogan Flannery said. “It’s kind of a lot for a team, too. The fact that they all can hit home runs is pretty crazy.”

After lefties Flannery and Bodhi Bedner homered back-to-back in the second inning, and Nolan Levinson added a solo blast in the third, it still took some doin’ to overcome San Mateo American — a league that last season won the District 52 12s banner, and a group of players who were the reigning 11s champs.

“Alpine hasn’t won in 25 years,” Dave Levinson said. “It’s really, really hard to do it. San Mateo is so well-trained, and so disciplined, and you make any mistakes and they take advantage. I have to say, we hit the ball. We can really hit the ball.”

So, with the game tied 4-4 in the fifth, Alpine proved they can score in more ways than just the long ball. Teddy Hourigan sparked the go-ahead rally with a bunt single, and Max Turner got hit my a pitch. After an infield popup, both runners moved over on a comeback groundout by Jack Chambers.

That set the stage for Hourigan to race home on a wild pitch to give Alpine the lead. After walks to Dylan Dossola and Nolan Levinson, No. 3 hitter Charles Saste — the only right-handed hitter to go deep for Alpine in the tournament — singled home a critical insurance run.

San Mateo American, however, fresh off a stunning come-from-behind walk-off victory over San Mateo National in the tourney semifinals, wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

“They’ve played a lot of tight games this year that have taught them it’s never over,” San Mateo American manager Jon Wells said.

American gambled from the outset by announcing right-hander Jacob Armstrong as their starting pitcher. Armstrong was added to the 12s roster midway through the tournament. He initially played for the District 52 11s team, pitching for them June 26 against Pacifica. Once the San Mateo American 11s team was eliminated from that tournament, Armstrong was eligible to be added to the 12s roster. Tuesday’s championship game marked his 12s pitching debut.

Armstrong worked 4 2/3 innings, settling down after giving up three early homers.

“He’s sort of a no-fear type of a kid,” Jon Wells said. “He wanted the ball. He wanted to pitch. After he got hit, gave up a couple of home runs, he still was: ‘I’m good, I’ve got this.’ And he kept fighting through. He pitched great. It’s just, they have some guys that can really hit the ball.”

Alpine greeted the right-hander rudely, though.

Patrick Breslin led off the second with a booming double to left. Then came the lefties, with Flannery squaring up an off-speed pitch and drilling it down the right-field line for a two-run home run, though the he wasn’t sure off the bat if it would stay fair.

“I knew it was going to be far enough to go out, but I didn’t know if it was fair,” Flannery said. “I saw it kind of hooking, but I knew it had the distance.”

On the very next pitch, Bedner was sitting fastball and didn’t miss it, blasting a solo shot deep onto the concourse in right-center field to give Alpine a 3-0 lead. The third left-handed hitting in a row, Garrett Weiss, followed with a double to center. But Armstrong pitched out of it, navigating the bottom of the batting order with two straight strikeouts, and a pop-out to shortstop to retire the side, stranding Weiss at second.

In the top of the third, American fired right back. Zach Marinec opened the inning with a walk, and Bobby Zapala reached on an infield error. After JT Pettigrew walked to load the bases, American unleashed its lone left-handed bat, as No. 13 hitter Joaquin Lee slashed a two-run double down the left-field line.

“Joaquin’s a great player,” Jon Wells said. “Where he bats in our order is not indicative of what he is ability wise ... and today he delivered a great double down the line in a game where they had ... three home runs that were very well-hit balls. We had to play some small ball today to get it done, and we did that. But that was a big hit.”

But with runners at second and third and no outs, Bedner worked some magic against the top of the American batting order. A shallow fly ball to right saw American dare not test the arm of right fielder Nolan Levinson for the first out of the inning.

“We were set to tag up, but it wasn’t deep enough,” Jon Wells said. “We really didn’t think we were going to score. And obviously he’s got an incredible arm, so we thought we could move things moving with our order.”

Then Bedner notched two straight strikeouts, including a called third strike that the catcher picked off the top of the dirt for the third out of the inning, leaving two runners stranded in scoring position.

Alpine added a run in the third when Nolan Levinson became the third lefty to leave Earth, as he connected with a first-pitch fastball for a screaming line drive long gone to center.

“The lefties were definitely doing better against their pitcher than the righties,” Dave Levinson said. “The righties were having a hard time picking him up. We’ve got six (lefties), and most of them have homers.”

But American clawed its way back against Alpine’s reliever Turner in the fourth. Owen Bittle led off with a single to center and Carter Wells followed with a walk to knock Bedner out of the game. After a wild pitch, Turner bounced back with a strikeout, but a groundout to second off the bat of Mazin Khoury scored Bittle to make it 4-3, and moved Carter Wells to third. The extra 60 feet loomed large, as Andrew Bandel flared an infield hit just over the mound to drive home Carter Wells, tying it 4-all.

Turner worked three innings of relief to earn the win, but had to battle through two runners in scoring position in the sixth to close it out.

American set the table in their final at-bat with a one-out walk to Colton Baker. Then Bittle prolonged the rally with a two-out single, and Baker smartly collided with Alpine shortstop to provoke a defensive obstruction call and getting awarded third base, as Bittle snuck into second on the play. It was the second defensive obstruction call to go against Alpine in the game, and was vehemently argued by Dave Levinson.

“I got a little heated myself, so I apologized after the game,” Dave Levinson said. “I was asking because it appeared the runner was going out of his way to seek contact, and he said that’s allowed as long as he judges that you’re in the baseline. So, you are allowed to kind of veer and seek out contact. They said that’s the rule, so I just asked my guys to really get out of the way.”

That brought to the plate Carter Wells, who led American throughout the tourney with a .545 batting average and seven RBIs. And Turner made the decision to go right after him.

“I just wanted to throw it down the middle to get the game over,” Turner said.

After walking in his previous two plate appearances, Wells jumped on a fastball and sent a flare toward the right side that initially looked like it might get over the head of Flannery, Alpine’s first baseman.

“I thought it was going to go fair and they were going to tie the game; heck, maybe even win,” Turner said. “It was pretty scary.”

But Flannery ranged back, camped under it, and gloved it for the game’s final out to send Alpine into a frenzied celebration in the middle of the diamond.

“I think going into this tournament we thought we were the best team, for sure,” Flannery said. “Since we didn’t win at 10s and 11s, I felt we had something to prove going into this tournament, and I thought we were the best. So, I’m not surprised at all.”

With the championship win, Alpine advances to the Section 3 tournament opening Saturday, July 12, at a District 52 field to be determined. The decision will be made Wednesday whether Alpine Little League will host at Ford Field, or Palo Alto will host at Middlefield Ballpark.

The District 52 12s tournament is the first step on the road to South Williamsport and the Little League World Series. There are five stages overall, with districts; sectionals; and the NorCal tournament starting Saturday, July 19, deciding the regional championship. Then comes the West Regional tournament, opening Saturday, Aug. 2, in San Bernardino. The West Regional champion advances to the Little League World Series, opening Thursday, Aug. 14.

“I say win everything,” Flannery said. “Go the distance.”