Cincotta perfect as San Mateo American claims Superbowl Majors banner

Over the course of retiring each batter of Hillsborough’s 12-man lineup, Cincotta was one of just three American defenders to touch the ball all evening, along with catcher Jake Pevear and first baseman Alex Lee.

“A little boring,” American second baseman Ben Girard said. “But exciting at the same time.”

The Superbowl banner marks the third championship Cincotta has enjoyed this season. The 12-year-old pitcher/outfielder played for the San Mateo American Little League 12-and-under champion White Sox. The team also went on to win the City Cup in the interleague championship game between the San Mateo American LL and San Mateo National LL champions.

This title, however, is the first he’s won primarily as a pitcher. An injury prevented him from pitching for most of the regular season. Wednesday marked his second start of the Superbowl tournament. With American running the table through four games, Cincotta made two appearances. In his first, he worked four innings before maxing out his pitch count in a grueling 12-11 win over Alpine in pool play.

Despite the slugfest last Saturday’s game turned into, American manager Joe Girard said Cincotta was just as sharp as he was Wednesday.

“Same thing,” Joe Girard said. “He dominated.”

What made Wednesday’s outing unique, other than the perfecto, was Cincotta threw just 54 pitches, 39 for strikes. What’s more, all 54 pitches were fastballs.

“I was throwing a lot more accurate than normal but the same speed,” Cincotta said, “and they were swinging and missing.”

While Cincotta did most of the work in the field himself, he has his offense to thank for scoring runs early and often to cut the game short.

Little League games are played to a regulation six innings, but the mercy rule kicks in if a team is leading by 10 or more runs after four innings. American scored five times in the first, four in the second, and pushed across the mercy-rule threshold with two runs in the third on a big swing of the bat by Ben Girard.

American’s leadoff hitter stepped to the plate with two on and one out, and lashed a two-run triple to right-center. Girard said he was thinking double off the bat, and for good reason. Spanning his regular season with the San Mateo American A’s, and through the the Superbowl tournament, Girard hadn’t recorded a triple or home run previous to Wednesday.

“I don’t usually hit it that well,” Ben Girard said. “I am more of a line-drive hitter.”

Road to the finals

Hillsborough isn’t the easiest lineup to shut down. Through pool play in the 11-team Superbowl tournament, Hillsborough scored 25 runs through two games — 13-3 over San Carlos in last Friday’s opener, and 12-2 over Belmont-Redwood Shores on Saturday. Only one team scored more runs through pool play, with Alpine totaling 31 runs, including a 20-0 victory in their opener.

“Everyone was kind of hitting for us the first two games,” Hillsborough manager Dan Nejasmich said.

Come the tournament semifinals, however, in a 5-3 victory over San Mateo National, it was defense that propelled Hillsborough to the championship round.

National was looking to tie it in the sixth with runners on second and third and one out, and tried a sneak-attack bunt attempt. But pitcher Mate Nejasmich fielded it and froze the runner at third before throwing to first baseman Lucas Reisenberg for the second out. With the throw, the runner at third broke for the plate, but Reisenberg was too fast with the throw for catcher Easton Straessler to apply the tag to end the game on a thrilling 1-3-2 double play.

“They just were screaming and did a lot of celebration,” Dan Nejasmich said.

American had an even more dramatic road to the finals. After an 11-0 win over Menlo-Atherton in last Friday’s opener, American claimed two one-run victories — 12-11 over Alpine, followed by an 11-10 win over Pacifica in Monday’s semifinals.

American breaks out the bats

Through four wins in the tourney, American racked up 45 runs, scoring in double digits in every game. They wasted no time Wednesday, sending 10 batters to the plate in the first inning. Each of the first five batters — Ben Girard, Avery Vu, Makai Nakamoto, Alex Lee and Hudson Wideman — reached base. An infield single by Cincotta loaded the bases for Sully Depui to pick up an RBI with a bases-loaded walk, and Camden Godfrey to drive in run with an infield groundout.

In the second, the top of the order set the table again with six straight batters reaching base, including a two-run single by Lee and a sharp single to right-center by Brandon Tsai to drive home Wideman.

The third inning could have been bigger than a two-run inning for American had it not been for Hillsborough second baseman Savan Singhal opening the frame with some precision defense. Depui led off the inning with a high hopper over the middle, but Singhal ranged to glove it with a high leaping backhand while setting his feet in stride and delivering a strong strike to first to get the out.

In the top of the fourth, however, Cincotta returned the favor with a defensive gem of his own. Singhal led off the inning with Hillsborough’s best chance for a hit on a chopper to the left side that nearly made it past the mound. But Cincotta lurched back against the momentum of his followthrough to glove it and finish the play with a crisp throw to first.

“Yeah, it had a chance because I don’t think the shortstop would have gotten it,” Cincotta said. “But I managed to catch it right at the top of my glove.”

Cincotta — who has been pitching since he was 8, but had never previously thrown a no-hitter — finished out the perfecto with back-to-back swinging strikeouts.

Rounding out the rosters

American’s roster included: Donovan Chow, Lazlo Cianci and Kai Yen.

Hillsborough’s roster included: Josh Aaronson, Ashton Coen, Jameson Griffin, Raffi Hourdajian, Jeffrey Lin, Gus Machado, Bennett Maury and Robeson Reed.