District 52 Little League All-Stars 10s tournament

Max Johnson delivered a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh inning as San Mateo American won a thriller in the winners’ bracket over rival San Mateo National at Ford Field.

Grayson McLaughlin set the table in the seventh, reaching on a one-out error. Jacob Armstrong followed with a two-out double to left to move McLaughlin to third. Then Johnson came through with a single to left to bring home McLaughlin with the winning run. American totaled just six hits in the game, with two of them coming in the final inning.

The rivals staged a classic back-and-forth showdown. National jumped ahead early, scoring single runs in the first, second and third. American rallied back with two in the bottom of the third, and jumped ahead 4-3 in the fourth when Dominic Speight scored on an infield error off the bat of Koa Rosenberg.

Then the two offenses parried through the late innings. National tied it in the top of the fifth on a two-out single from Tommy Falzon to score Jack Hurley. In the bottom of the inning, American took the lead back on bases-loaded walk to Justin Sanchez to score Noah Jones. But National tied it in the sixth to force extra innings, with Luke Cruz drawing a bases-loaded walk to plate Caden Jensen.

Jones earned the win in relief, entering with two one and no outs in the sixth. He allowed one inherited baserunner to score on the one-out walk to Cruz, but bounced back with back-to-back strikeouts to keep the score knotted at 5-5. Jones was credited with two innings of work, and stranded two more runners in the top of the seventh.

With the win, American advances to the winners’ bracket semifinals to play Saturday against Hillsborough at 10:30 a.m.

National returns to the field Friday to take on Pacifica in an elimination game.

Hillsborough 6, Alpine 4

With the game tied 4-4 in the fifth, Hillsborough rallied for two runs in the top of the fifth on a go-ahead single by Drew Kettman and an RBI double from Mason Dow to defeat Alpine at Ford Field.

Alpine jumped ahead with two runs in the first on a sacrifice fly from Connor Murphy, and an outfield error off the bat of Gavin Arditi to score Tommy Brock. But Hillsborough answered back with one run in the second before taking the lead with a three-run rally in the third, highlighted by a two-run single by Dylan Viera to make it 4-2.

Alpine tied it in the fourth with a two-run rally, capped by an RBI single from Murphy.

Hillsborough racked up 13 hits, with Kettman recording two singles and two RBIs. Mikey Sakai and Jack Veach added two hits apiece, along with Mico DeMartini who had a double and a triple, and Viera was 1 for 2 with two RBIs.

Hillsborough reliever Caroline Gherini earned the win with 1 2/3 hitless innings. She allowed two hits and struck out three. Charlie Willord closed it out with a scoreless sixth, allowing one walk while striking out the side.

With the win, Hillsborough advances to the winners’ bracket semifinals to face San Mateo American, Saturday, at 10:30 a.m.

Alpine faces San Carlos in an elimination game Friday.