DANVILLE — San Mateo American couldn’t find an answer for Danville, falling twice to the host team in the Section 3 Little League All-Stars 9-10s tournament at Osage Park.
The second loss, a 9-4 decision Tuesday night, was the end of the road for the San Mateo American boys, who posted a 2-2 record in the tournament.
American opened play in the four-team, double-elimination tourney Saturday with a 14-0 win over Newark. After an 8-1 loss Sunday to Danville, American bounced back with a 5-2 win over Union City to advance to the championship round.
“It was a good run,” American manager Steve Church said. “We took the other two teams. Just, this team came out and played a little bit better. … These boys played great. It was good to see them play hard and get to this stage of baseball.”
Danville jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning Tuesday. In the second and third inning, American matched Danville run for run. In the top of the second, Danville scored once to up the lead to 4-0, but American fired back with a two-out RBI single by Leo Rhein to make it 4-1.
In the third, Danville scored twice. American answered with two in the bottom of the frame to keep it a three-run deficit at 6-3, with an RBI groundout by Jesus Olivas and an RBI single by Saxon Lucia.
But Danville broke it open with three runs in the fourth. American added its last run in the fifth when RJ Church scored on a passed ball.
American used five pitchers in the game: Olivas, Rhein, RJ Church, Jack Hickey and Cooper Hipps.
RJ Church and Julio Calderon paced American with two hits apiece.
Moving up to 10-11s next year, American anticipates returning most of this year’s All-Star roster, according to Steve Church. Landon King — who recently turned 9 — is the only player who figures to return to the 9-10s level next season. Catcher Jesse Sanchez is moving out of the area. The other 11 players are in line for a promotion to the 10-11s squad in 2020.
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