Oh, Yeh!: Max Yeh pitches American 12s to the Nor Cal finals

Starting pitcher Max Yeh fronted the 10-7 victory over Rincon Valley, working 5 1/3 innings to earn the win.

Yeh reached the maximum 85-pitch threshold, not that you could tell by the right-hander’s effortless delivery. He has been a workhorse for American throughout the summer Little League All-Stars season, for sure. But that’s just the way he likes it.

“I like pitching,” Yeh said. “I don’t really feel anything in my arm. I just want to throw.”

Yeh’s lengthy outing sets American up nicely heading into Thursday’s championship round. Needing to win two games to claim the Nor Cal banner, American now has ace right-hander Landon King at the ready.

American will face Tri-City, the Rocklin-based team that has a game to give, having navigated the winners’ bracket. It was Tri-City that handed American its only loss of the tourney Sunday, backed by ace starter Brandon Williams. San Mateo American manager Paul Witten has lined up his pitching rotation to match up King with Williams.

“It’s going to be a little bit of a chess match,” Witten said. “We’re going to see who they’re throwing. But we’re lining up to throw Landon tomorrow. … It really just depends on what they’re going to do. And I’m going to try to find out what the best matchup is and then just go in that direction.”

With so much emphasis on pitching, American’s bread and butter remains its offense. Wednesday’s win was technically American’s third straight come-from-behind victory, trailing briefly after Rincon Valley scratched out a run in the top of the second.

Then, American did what it has done so effectively this summer, hanging a crooked number on Rincon Valley. American sent 11 batters to the plate in the bottom of the second, scoring eight runs in the frame, highlighted by Willy Folau’s third grand slam home run of the summer.

“I’m running out of things to say about Willy Folau because he’s come up for us so many times,” Witten said. “The kids get fired up by his raw power, and just his presence in the box.”

But American set the table with a small-ball approach. DJ Ruiz and Dylan Erlandson opened the inning with back-to-back walks. Then Evan Gilbert laid down a picturesque sacrifice bunt, with Rincon Valley’s pitcher throwing errantly over the first baseman to allow Gilbert to reach base, and for Ruiz to score from second base to tie it 1-1.

“[Gilbert] does a pretty good job of it,” Witten said. “We waited for him to get into a situation to be able to do that. It’s worked a few times so far.”

Then the top of the order put American ahead. Yeh drove home the go-ahead run with an RBI single to left. Easton Vina followed with an RBI fielder’s choice. King and Nick Loew delivered back-to-back singles to load the bases. Then Folau stepped to the plate to do what he has done so consistently this summer: connecting with a high fastball to drive an opposite-field bomb over the right-center field wall.

“It was kind of a doubter,” Folau said. “But once I ran out of the box, I saw that it was hit far.”

Rincon Valley made it interesting, rallying for two runs in the top of the fourth. American manufactured a run in the bottom of the inning, but Rincon Valley fired back with a three-run home run from Santino Rubio in the fifth to make it 9-6. In the bottom of the frame, Yeh produced a vital insurance run with a RBI double.

Then in the top of the sixth, after Yeh surpassed the 85-pitch limit while getting the first out of the inning, American turned to reliever Ewan Osborne to close it out.

Osborne threw 21 pitches, all fastballs, pounding the bottom of the strike zone consistently. The big right-hander got squeezed a bit, and got touched for a run on a walk, a single and a wild pitch. But he settled down to finish off the night with a grounder to Yeh at second for the game’s final out.

“We knew we had to get 85 (pitches) out of Max,” Witten said. “We’re light on pitching. And he threw more pitches than I thought he needed to because we didn’t protect the ball well, so we didn’t play catch as well as we normally can. I’m glad it happened because it forced Ewan into a very tough situation and we’re going to need him over the next couple days.”

American takes the field Thursday night against Tri-City for a scheduled 6:30 p.m. first pitch. An if-necessary game is scheduled for Friday at 6:30 p.m. The games are scheduled to be livestreamed at Pajaro Valley Little League’s Facebook page.