D52 Little League All-Stars 11s roundup

Belmont-Redwood Shores sent 10 batters to the plate amid a six-run rally in the third, and hung on to advance through the elimination bracket against San Mateo National at Trinta Field in San Mateo.

National jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first on RBI singles from Nathan Bostick and Jackson Bottani, but Belmont-Redwood Shores answered big time in the third. The first six Belmont batters reached base in the inning, with Andrew Vendola singling home Caleb Mooney to give his team a 3-2 lead. The rally was capped when Diego Soto and Vendola both scored with Grant Grites reaching on a fielder’s choice.

Grites pitched four innings as Belmont-Redwood Shores’ starter, and Michael Ataya worked 1 1/3 innings of relief before running into trouble in the sixth. That’s when Mooney was called upon to close it out. National cleanup hitter Christopher Vasquez greeted Mooney with a two-run double to score Caleb Fuata and Casey Armstrong, closing the deficit to 6-4. After issuing a walk to bring the potential winning run to the plate, however, Mooney buckled down to set down the next two batters with infield grounders to end it.

Mooney, Soto and Chase Wilson recorded two hits apiece for Belmont-Redwood Shores. Vasquez went 2 for 2 with a walk and two RBIs for National.

Belmont-Redwood Shores advances to face Palo Alto in an elimination game Wednesday at 5 p.m.

San Mateo National went 0-2 in the tournament. Their roster includes Fuata, Armstrong, Vasquez, Bostick, Bottani, William Falzon, Jordan Perez, Lucas Solis, Ethan Chan, Dominic Castellino, Clayton Gabler and Caleb Shifflet.

Palo Alto 7, Menlo-Atherton 3

Palo Alto scored in each of the first four innings to stay alive at Trinta Park with an elimination win over Menlo-Atherton.

Austin Carlstrom reached base in all three of his plate appearances, including an RBI double in the first to drive home Alonso Ontiveros with the game’s first run. Zion Lee and Ian Nilson each stole bases and scored in the second, while Colton Kuchinski and Ontineros each scored with two outs in the third.

M-A answered with three runs in the bottom of the third, turning over the batting order with singles from James Styles and Phil Barth. Both came around to score, along with Carter Herberts, but Palo Alto’s bullpen navigated a jam with Menlo-Atherton stranding the bases loaded. Hudson Zwerin doubled to lead off the sixth for M-A, but the Palo Alto bullpen struck out the next three batters to end it.

Palo Alto advances to face Belmont-Redwood Shores in an elimination game Wednesday at 5 p.m.

M-A went 0-2 in the tournament. Their roster includes Barth, Herberts, Styles, Zwerin, Levi Becerra, Jackson Finato, James Freeman, Bennett Hopman, Fin Kerns, Charly Lockwood Flores, Andrew Siegel and Zach Trailer.