American: The next generation

“It’s the second inning,” American cleanup hitter Max Johnson said. “There’s a lot of game left. We can come back.”

Not only did American respond, and respond swiftly — scoring five runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning — they went on to score 15 unanswered runs Saturday in a 15-5 mercy-rule walk-off victory.

Of the quick start and sudden shift in momentum, San Mateo National manager John Perry said: “The kids came out and hit the ball, [but] American — they’re good,” John Perry said.

Johnson enjoyed a fine All-Star debut, going 2 for 2 with a walk and a mammoth three-run home run in the fourth. Five batters later — after a Jojo Piazza single and back-to-back walks to Isaac Parsons and Tyler Kirby — Cole Armstrong floated a two-run double to left, putting American up by 10 to invoke the mercy-rule walk-off.

It wasn’t Johnson’s home run that put American in the driver’s seat, however, but his base running the inning prior.

After relief pitcher Luke Murray set down the side in order in the top of the third for a critical shutdown inning amid a 5-5 tie, Johnson led off the bottom of the inning with a walk. After he moved to second on a wild pitch, Piazza drew a walk — but as National threw the ball back to the the pitcher, Johnson took off for third. What ensued was a frantic defense committing two throwing errors on the play, allowing Johnson to pop up from his slide into third and dash home, and Piazza trailing the play by rumbling all the way over to third.

“He wasn’t covering third,” Johnson said. “They weren’t paying attention, so I went. And [the throw] went past them, so I went forward.”

While each of American’s 12 players in the continuous batting order reached base, it was the bottom of the order that really brought the thunder. Not only did the game-winning double come from the No. 9 spot in Armstrong, American’s two biggest rallies — the five-spot in the second and an eight-run rally in the fourth — were started by the lower half of the lineup.

“It’s not a surprise,” San Mateo American manager Brad Murray said. “We’ve got hitters up and down the lineup. ... All these kids can hit. All these kids can play. It’s an awesome team.”

National, however, showed it could turn over its lineup as well. The visitors sent nine batters to the plate in the second, keyed by a clutch two-out, two-run single by No. 11 batter Dylan Morgenroth. Earlier in the frame, Drew Perez got his team on the board with a sharp RBI single.

It was American who seemed to be coming undone at this point, with starting pitcher Koa Rosenberg departing after 1 2/3 innings of work, and National’s Nico Perry greeting the bullpen with a two-run single to cap the rally.

“We were a little worried,” American catcher Joey Pettigrew said, “but we knew we could score five runs in at least five innings.”

As it turned out, American proved it could score five runs in a flash.

Pettigrew turned in a pivotal play to get his team back in the dugout, throwing out Nico Perry at second on a steal attempt for the third out of the inning. Then in the bottom of the frame — after an infield single by Ronan Chumas and an RBI double by Traxton Kaho — a wild pitch and an infield error allowed Kaho and Cameron Mayer each to score. Pettigrew then ripped a double up the left-center gap to score TJ Forrest. After Pettigrew moved to third on an infield single by Luke Murray, he scored on a wild pitch to tie it 5-all.

After American took the lead in the third, Pettigrew came up with another clutch defensive play to start the fourth. National’s Landon Lewis tried a sneak attack bunt single, and deadened it nicely on the grass up the left side. It looked as though a collision was imminent as Pettigrew popped out of the crouch with the pitcher and third baseman both crashing, but the agile catcher got to the ball first, pivoted toward first with some fluid footwork, and threw a strike to first to Lewis by a step.

“I thought that the third baseman was going to run into me, but I was fast enough to get the ball and throw it to first base,” Pettigrew said.

The out loomed large, as Perez followed with a single and Keaton Poggetti reached on an infield error. But the second baseman Armstrong stopped the bleeding with riveting play on a routine grounder off the bat of Emmett McGoldrick that saw Armstrong attempt to tag Poggetti as he ran by, but missed. Armstrong recovered, though, and was able to make a Gumby-armed throw to first to get McGoldrick with a bang-bang play.

National went on to strand two runners in scoring position in the fourth, something that would haunt them as they wouldn’t bat again in the contest.

Shortstop Tommy Falzon nearly extended the game, though, with one out and five runs in when he made a slick diving grab with the bases loaded. Falzon ranged over the middle to nab a soft liner as he slid to the turf, then from his knees delivered a crisp throw behind the runner at third base with Piazza sliding headlong back to the bag for a 50-50 safe call on what was almost the third out of the inning.

“Our shortstop made a killer play,” John Perry said. “I thought he had him at third, but I’m in the dugout looking, I’ll give that to the umpires. ... It’s unfortunate we couldn’t get that out and go hit again.”

Luke Murray led all hitters with a 3-for-3 day. Perez paced National with two hits.

National now falls to the elimination bracket Monday at 5 p.m., and will take on either Pacifica or Redwood City.