Half Moon Bay celebrates another championship with District 52 Little League All-Stars Juniors crown

“It’s remarkable,” HMB manager Corey Gunning said. “These guys are such a tight group. They’ve been, most of them, playing together since the time they were 8, 9, 10 years old. They just compete hard for each other, and I think that’s what sets us aside from everyone else.”

It marks the second straight district banner for the core group, as HMB won the District 52 Intermediates championship last season. Left-hander Ollie Kern, who earned the win in the title game as a 13-year-old last year, gave a repeat performance Saturday, working five-plus innings while surrendering two runs on five hits, one walk and one hit batsman, while striking out six.

It’s been a circuitous summer for the District 52 veteran. In his last appearance, HMB’s 19-7 win over Pacifica in the tournament opener in the previous Saturday, the southpaw didn’t make it out of the third inning, allowing just one hit but getting touched for five runs (four earned) while walking five through 2 1/3 innings.

“I don’t want to say he’s struggled lately, but he’s had a difficult time throwing strikes when he needed to,” Gunning said. “And today he was just dialed. That was the Ollie we had last year in districts and through sectionals.”

Kern locked up with Menlo-Atherton right-hander Jack Brubacher, trading zeroes through the first three innings. But, while HMB’s defense was nails behind Kern, the Menlo-Atherton defense opened the door for HMB to scratch out one run in the fourth and two more in the fifth.

Brubacher — who, at age 14 stands 6-6 — responded to early adversity with a hot streak. The big right-hander opened the game allowing a bloop single to Dom Seaton and a walk to Greyson Riesen.

“I was a little upset, but it was all right,” Brubacher said. “Definitely lit a fire. It made me just keep on pumping.”

Brubacher bounced back to strike out the next six batters he faced, and went on to set down 11 HMB batters in a row. He worked 4 1/3 innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on three hits and three walks, while striking out 10.

“He was fantastic,” Menlo-Atherton manager Matt Siegel said. “The whole game he was dialed in, throwing heat. He had everything working for him. ... It was a lot of strikeouts. He was dialed in. We were super happy with his performance.”

But HMB seized on its opportunities.

After Brubacher set down his 11th straight — striking out HMB’s No. 13 hitter for the second out of the fourth inning to turn over the batting order — Seaton broke up the streak with a seemingly harmless two hopper to the left side of the infield, only to see the third baseman bobble it to give HMB two-out life.

“Once I made contact, it was just like: ‘OK, get on any way you can,’” Seaton said. “I’ve got to get on base and help my team out, and pull out a win.”

Seaton motored to second on a wild pitch, then Riesen made the miscues hurt with a line-drive single to right-center to give HMB a 1-0 lead.

In the fifth, HMB added on. Kern led off the frame by lifting a high popup into shallow center field, but the Texas Leaguer found the turf, and Kern was hustling out of the box to leg out a double. Two wild pitches allowed Kern to come around to score. Then, after back-to-back walks to Jack Meldrum and Luke Gordon, Menlo-Atherton summoned Elliot Lee from the bullpen, and HMB’s Wyatt Gunning ambushed him with a bunt play.

Gunning was looking simply to sacrifice, but earned a hustle single with a well-placed bunt up the third-base side. Mackey Connell then delivered a two-out RBI single through the left side of the infield to stake HMB to a 3-0 lead.

Then, HMB’s defense took over.

Menlo-Atherton scored both its runs in the sixth, but it could have been much worse if not for a fortuitous defensive alignment. Jack Stoffel sparked the M-A rally with a line shot into the left-field corner for a leadoff double. Stoffel moved to third on a wild pitch and Brubacher drew a walk to end Kern’s day.

HMB’s third baseman Brayden Davis took over on the mound, moving Meldrum from the outfield to the hot corner, a move that loomed large later in the inning.

Davis was poised to keep the shutout in order when he induced a grounder to the left side of the infield, which forced Stoffel into a rundown between third and home, but an error allowed him to race home with M-A’s first run of the day. After a walk to Bryce Gilmartin loaded the bases, Ian Smith tagged a one-out single through the middle to knock home Brubacher, cutting the score to 3-2.

Davis bounced back with a strikeout, bringing Riggins Mitchell to the plate. Mitchell hit a tricky grounder over the bag at third, forcing Meldrum to range right and go into a knee slide to corral it.

“It was so close (to getting through),” Siegel said. “It’s a game of inches, and that’s what happens sometimes. He made a play. You’ve got to give credit to the other team for making a play.”

Meldrum didn’t have time to throw across the diamond, so he popped to his feet and raced to the bag and finished with a feet-first slide to beat the runner.

“When I made the play, I looked and the guy was not running at all,” Meldrum said. “I saw it down the line, no play at all; the guy was fast. So, I just tagged the bag.”

Meldrum celebrated the run-saving play with an animated yell and a fist pump as he was swarmed by his teammates on his way back to the dugout.

“I’m always going a hundred percent,” Meldrum said. “No matter what the thing is, right there, it’s bases loaded, ball down the line, I slipped and I made the play. And getting hyped for my teammates is always fun.”

Meldrum wasn’t done, though. M-A’s Hudson Zwerin led off the bottom of the seventh with a trickler up the left side, but Meldrum charged and gathered to make a crisp throw off his back foot to peg the runner at first.

Then right fielder Jax Brown took a single away from Carter Herberts, changing hard on a crisp liner to right and firing to first base to record a 9-3 putout.

“We practice that, and Jax is a hustler,” Gunning said. “And he’s there for a reason. He read that ball, and he came in and came and got it, and got the guy at first.”

M-A got the potential tying run on base when Stoffel drew a two-out walk. But a high fly ball to Connell in center ended it, with Davis seemingly meditating on the mound before he was swarmed by his teammates in the championship celebration.

“It means a lot” Meldrum said. “Last year, I was on the team but I had to go to Kentucky ... so, I didn’t get to celebrate with all the boys. So, this was my first championship with Half Moon Bay. It’s pretty special.”