An Alpine stunner on opening day of District 52 Little League All-Stars 12s baseball tournament

Trailing 5-3 heading into their final at-bat, Alpine rallied for six runs in the top of the sixth, with slugging catcher Ryan Cohen delivering the big left-handed swing, a low-trajectory line drive that cleared the center field wall for a go-ahead three-run home run.

“There was runners on second and third, so I was just trying to get a line drive, trying to get it in the gap because that ties the game,” Cohen said. “Obviously, I don’t try to hit homers when I hit. But ... I saw a good curveball, I had a feeling he was going to throw it early in the count. I just saw it, he kind of hung it, and I took a good swing at it.”

Cohen put on a show all afternoon in the defensive crouch, pouncing on balls on the dirt, chasing down anything that forced him out of the squat, and, most importantly, working in rhythm and framing pitches for Alpine’s three pitchers — Sam Kroll, Gavin Arditi and Brandon Pyle.

“He worked really hard at it and he’s got a presence,” Alpine manager John Brock said. “He plays a lot of baseball. He watches a ton of baseball. ... But he’s got a high baseball IQ, he’s always turned on, he always knows what’s going on in the game.”

So, when Alpine gathered in the dugout to bat in the sixth trailing by 2, Cohen, due up fourth in the inning, was just hoping to get to the plate. And when No. 12 batter Charles Schmidt worked a seven-pitch walk to lead off the inning, encouragingly clapping his hands as he jogged by his teammates in the dugout on his way to first base, Cohen knew it was game on.

“It gave me confidence,” Cohen said. “That’s a great pitcher on the mound and props to him — great curveball, throws hard. But getting on base was a big thing, and I think it helped me feel more confident against the dude.”

Nixon Strick followed with a clutch swing of the bat, sizzling a single through the right side of the infield. But when Jack Schneider followed by trying to exploit the same hole with a hard chopper between first and second, Redwood City second baseman Egan Ormsby made what appeared to be a game-saving play, ranging left to glove a high hop and make on off-balance throw to first, with Strick and Schmidt each moving up 60 feet but neither able to score.

“The second baseman made an awesome play,” Brock said. “So, we’re just hoping Ryan gets a ball in play someplace, gets to find some grass and gets those runs across. But, he’s a great hitter, and he smoked that ball.”

That he did, and he indeed found some grass — on the knoll beyond the center field wall to earn an epic reception by his teammates, minds blown, at home plate.

But the Alpine power show was just getting started as Pyle followed with a single to left, Tommy Brock drew a walk, and Kroll cashed in with a no-doubt, long-gone bomb to center field to cap the six-run outburst.

“We’re a great and I believe that, and I think everybody else believes that,” Cohen said.

While the power flex was reminiscent of 2025, it was more drama in one inning than last year’s Alpine team showed through its entire District 52 championship run. It’s a tough act to follow, as the 2025 Alpine squad finished the summer two wins shy of qualifying for the Little League World Series, claiming district, section and Northern California championship banners along the way.

“We all watched them last year, and rooted for them,” Brock said. “It was awesome to see their run. But ... there’s zero players from that team on our team. Our own team, we went pretty far last year and we lost in the championship. So, we’ve tried to keep the focus on our team and what we did as 11-year-olds, and how we can be better this year, and don’t try to compare to what they did.”

Redwood City put a scare into mighty Alpine Little League early on. Alpine struck first with a pair of runs in the top of the second on RBI singles from Greyson Davis and Arditi. But RWC answered by sending 10 batters to the plate in the bottom of the frame. Sam Kurland singled home the first run, and Lucas Worthington drew a bases-loaded walk to tie it. Zach Nakanishi gave RWC the lead with an RBI single to the left. Eli Totah then singled to the left side of the infield to make it 4-2.

RWC scored an insurance run in the third when Ormsby scored on a passed ball. But Alpine put a dent in the deficit in the fifth with a sacrifice fly from Everett Bochnowski to cut it to 5-3.

Pyle then pitched through a hit batsman and an error in the bottom of the fifth, setting the stage for the fireworks in the sixth. The right-handed reliever closed it out with two scoreless innings, striking out one and setting down the side in order without letting the ball out of the infield in the sixth.

Cohen was 2 for 3 with a homer and three RBIs to pace Alpine, while Schneider and Jacob Mallari added two hits apiece. Nakanishi was 2 for 2 with an RBI for RWC, while Ormsby added two hits with a double.

Alpine now advances through the winners’ bracket to face Hillsborough in the second round Tuesday at 4 p.m. RWC falls to the elimination bracket to return to action Wednesday at 4 p.m.