District 52 Little League All-Stars baseball roundup • Saturday, June 21, 2025

San Mateo American 11, Redwood City 1

The reigning champs are off and running.

While last year’s San Mateo American 12s team was running the table in District 52 play in Palo Alto, the 11s were doing the same at Trinta Park to capture a District 52 banner of their own. This year, that 11s team moved on up to extend American’s winning streak at Middlefield Ballpark to five straight games with a four-inning mercy-rule win over Redwood City.

Colton Baker went 2 for 2 with an RBI as American totaled 10 hits in the game, scoring four times in the first and seven more in the second. Andrew Bandel, Carter Wells and Elliott Klemp each doubled, while Wells, Brayden Sole and Mazin Khoury recorded one RBI apiece. RWC scored its only run in the top of the fourth on an RBI double to center by Aidan Hogan to drive home JJ Schaukowitch.

American starting pitcher Owen Bittle earned the win, firing three shutout innings. The right-hander allowed two hits while striking out one, and threw just 30 pitches, 20 for strikes. Klemp closed out the shortened game with one inning of relief work in the fourth, allowing one run on two hits while striking out two. RWC starter Elliot Ross worked 1 2/3 innings. Jackson Williams followed with 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.

RWC will play an elimination game Monday against either Belmont-Redwood Shores or Palo Alto at 4 p.m.

Hillsborough 11, Foster City 1

Hillsborough scored early and often to open District 52 play with a five-inning mercy-rule win over Foster City. Easton Andreachhi led the way with a 3-for-3 day with three runs scored.

Finn Rowbotham drew a one-out walk in the first to spark a three-run rally. Foster City got one of those runs back in the bottom of the first on a sacrifice fly from Ryunosuke Fujimoto to score Oliver Xia. But Hillsborough added a run in the second, and scored five times in the third with an RBI single from Rowbotham, an RBI double by Will Cantwell, and RBI singles from Jack Snethen and Tommy Jacobson. In the fifth, a sacrifice fly by Willie DeMartini and an RBI groundout from Colton Kreuzkamp pushed the lead to 10 runs.

Starting pitcher Will Duffel earned the win for Hillsborough with two innings of work, allowing one unearned run on two hits while striking out five. DeMartini followed with 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, allowing one hit and striking out four. Colton Kung emerged to notch the final out with a strikeout.

Foster City now moves to the elimination bracket, Tuesday at 6 p.m., to take on either San Mateo National or San Carlos.

San Carlos 10, Half Moon Bay 0

West Murphy lifted a sacrifice fly to drive home Evan Zalabak in the bottom of the fourth inning to deliver San Carlos to a mercy-rule walk-off victory over Half Moon Bay at Middlefield Ballpark. San Carlos scored four in the first inning and five in the second, while Zalabak was 1 for 1 with a home run, two walks, three RBIs and three runs scored.

Starting pitcher Alex Cha earned the complete-game shutout victory, allowing five hits, one walk and one hit batsman over four innings, while striking out nine. HMB used four pitchers: starter Luke Gordon and relievers Jackson Revet, Wyatt Reimche and Peter Hophan.

Cha paced San Carlos at the plate, going 2 for 3 with a home run and three RBIs, while Murphy added two RBIs and Griffin Lucia notched a double and two walks.

HMB falls to the elimination bracket to take on Hillsborough, Monday, at 6:30 p.m.

11s tournament

Belmont-Redwood Shores 4, Palo Alto 3

Belmont-Redwood Shores opened the 11s tournament with a walk-off win in extra innings, as Djaven Blanks raced home from second base to score the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh. Blanks was placed at second as the ghost runner in extra innings. Mason Jen supplied the big hit with a clean single to left, with Blanks scoring on a fielding error.

BRS reliever Jameson Biddle picked up the win, entering with runners at first and third and two outs in the top of the seventh. Blanks was on the mound to start the inning, and got two outs while Palo Alto ghost runner Zev Gold advanced just 60 feet. Gold initially moved to third when Arthur Anderson grounded out for the first out, but Blanks buckled down to notch a strikeout. After Eric Tian got hit by a pitch to put runners at the corners, Biddle emerged to end the threat by recording a swinging strikeout.

Five BRS pitchers combined to hold Palo Alto to one hit, and took a no-hitter into the fifth. Jen started and fired two scoreless innings, allowing two walks while striking out five. Austin Law-Hing worked 2 2/3 innings of relief, all two runs (one earned) with three walks and three strikeouts, but no hits.

Blanks paced BRS with two hits and two RBIs, and broke a scoreless tie in the fourth with a two-run double to drive home Biddle and Law-Hing. Palo Alto fired back in the fifth to swing ahead with a three-run rally. Tian scored on an infield error to make it 2-1, then Isaiah Vanderlip produced a two-out single, with Alexis Cheruzel and Harrison Goodnough scoring on an outfield error. BRS tied it in the bottom of the inning on a Shota Harada single to bring home Joshua Lo.

Palo Alto moves to the elimination bracket to face either San Mateo American or Redwood City Monday at 3 p.m.

San Mateo American 10, San Carlos 0

Jacob Armstrong recorded complete-game shutout, while going 2 for 2 with a double and four RBIs at the plate, as San Mateo American won via mercy-rule over San Carlos in the opening game of the District 52 All-Stars 11s tournament.

Armstrong allowed just two hits and two walks while striking out seven over four innings of work to earn the win. He also drove in the walk-off run, singling home Liam Finn and Sohan Jain in the bottom of the fourth to invoke the mercy rule. Armstrong added a two-run double in the third during a big six-run outburst.

Nine different American players registered hits, with Jameson Stoloski, Cullen Whiley and Avir Humphrey each producing a single and an RBI. San Carlos got one hit apiece from Dom Rhein and Armen Gunderman.

San Carlos falls to the elimination bracket to take on either San Mateo National or Belmont-Redwood Shores Monday at 5:30 p.m.

10s tournament

San Carlos 10, Menlo-Atherton 0

San Carlos earned its first winners’ bracket game in District 52 All-Stars 10s tournament play since 2021, hanging crooked numbers on the scoreboard in each of the first three innings to wrap it up via four-inning mercy-rule against Menlo-Atherton.

Starting pitcher Will Warner and reliever Michael Brown combined on a three-hit shutout. Warner earned the win, allowing two hits and one walk through 3 1/3 innings, while striking out seven. Brown entered in relief and faced three batters, needing just three pitches to close it out.

Warner added a 2-for-2 day at the plate with a double and two RBIs, Rocco Dito added two hits with a triple and an RBI, Brown had two hits with a double and an RBI, and Graham May went 2 for 2. For Menlo-Atherton, Talin Jain doubled while Jacob Cline and Will Witham each singled. On the mound, Michael Leung pitched 1 2/3 innings and Taavi Zwerin followed with 1 1/3 innings for M-A.

Menlo-Atherton now moves to the elimination bracket, Tuesday at 5:30 p.m., to face either Foster City or Alpine.

Alpine 10, Belmont-Redwood Shores 0

Tayo An went 2 for 3 with three RBIs, and Alpine needed just five innings to claim the win in the District 52 10s opener at Trinta Park. Alpine jumped ahead 3-0 in the first, then added five in the third before scoring single runs in the fourth and fifth. They scored the magic mercy-rule run No. 10 in the top of five when Lolo McNeil scored on a wild pitch.

McNeil, Charlie Katz and Andrew Sutkin combined on a three-hit shutout. McNeil worked three one-hit innings, allowing two walks while striking out three. Katz and Sutkin relieved to work one inning apiece.

Tommy Masters and Wilson Shank each added two hits for Alpine. Belmont-Redwood Shores got a double from Zac Janin and singles from Bradley Sakurai and Joey Douglas.

Up next for BRS is an elimination game Tuesday at 5 p.m. against San Carlos.

Redwood City 5, Half Moon Bay 3

Trailing 2-0 in the fourth, Redwood City rallied to score five times to claim the win in the District 52 10s opener over Half Moon Bay at Trinta Park. Grady Harmon came up with the go-ahead knock, a two-run single to center to drive home Matthew Brennan and Camilo Sherer to put RWC up 3-2. Brennan got RWC on the board with an RBI double, while Patrick Soars added an RBI single and Hunter Karcich drew a bases-loaded walk.

Harmon earned the win in relief, working 2 1/3 innings. He gave up one run on three hits and two walks with three strikeouts. Starting pitcher Carlo Minitti worked three innings, allowing two runs (none earned) on one hit, three walks and two hit batters while striking out four. Matthew Larsen got the last two outs of the game to earn the save.

HMB outhit RWC 5-4, with Gavin Seva going 2 for 2 with a double and a walk, and Liam Keates adding two hits.

HMB falls to the elimination bracket to face Palo Alto Monday at 5:30 p.m.

14s tournament

Pacifica 16, San Carlos 1

P-Town went large in the Juniors tournament opener at Red Morton Park, scoring more runs than any team at any level of District 52 play Saturday. Heinrich Dorsch III led the way for Pacifica, going 2 for 3 with a triple and three RBIs, while Matthew Harp added two hits, two RBIs and three runs scored.

San Carlos jumped out to an early lead, as Carson Ettinger led off with a single and later scored on an error. Pacifica answered with four runs in the bottom of the inning, and added three in the third and nine in the fourth to walk off via 15-run mercy-rule, when Sean Basanez singled home Michael Demchak.

Sean Hagemann earned the win of Pacifica, working 3 2/3 innings while allowing one unearned run on two hits. William Gatley closed it out with one-third inning of work, navigating a hit and a walk.

San Carlos falls to the elimination bracket Monday at Red Morton Park at 6:30 p.m. to face either Palo Alto or Redwood City.

Redwood City 10, Menlo-Atherton 5

Lachlan Morello hit an inside-the-park home run in the sixth inning to cap a big win for Redwood City at Baylands Park.

RWC led most of the way, scoring three runs in the first and four in the second to go up 7-1. But M-A rallied for four runs in the third, including an RBI single by Ian Smith, who later scored on a wild pitch to close it to 7-5. RWC answered with a run in the bottom of the inning on a sacrifice fly by Morello to bring home Zach Shah. Shah returned the favor in the fifth by lifting a sac fly to score Matthew Molinelli. Morello then took the grand tour in the sixth with a line drive to deep center field to cap the day’s scoring.

Starting pitcher Ewan Minitti earned the win for RWC, allowing two runs (one earned) over 2 2/3 innings. He allowed two hits, one walk and one hit batsman while striking out six. DeAngelo Palafox soldiered through 3 1/3 innings of relief before Declan McLaughlin closed it out with a scoreless seventh.

M-A will play an elimination game Monday at Red Morton Park at 4 p.m. against either Pacifica or Half Moon Bay.

16s tournament

San Carlos 2, Palo Alto 1

Starting pitcher Oliver Connolly fired five innings of two-hit baseball, and Connor Murray closed it out with two innings of relief as San Carlos got past Palo Alto in the two-team District 52 Seniors bracket at Baylands Park.

Connolly locked up with Palo Alto starting pitcher Victor Hernandez to trade zeroes through the first two innings. Paly broke through with a run in the third on Kavan Zia’s RBI single. But San Carlos swung ahead in the fourth. Connolly and Murray opened the inning with back-to-back singles, before Mason Stevick reached on an error to plate Connolly with the tying run. San Carlos then swiped the go-ahead run with runners at the corners, when Murray stole home after a pickoff attempt at first base.

It was all the runs Connolly would need to earn the win, allowing one run on two hits and two hit batsmen, while striking out nine over five innings of work. Massey allowed one hit and one walk to earn the save.