P-Town brings home District 52 14s crown

The right-handed closer’s second strikeout of the inning punctuated a 5-2 win over rival Half Moon Bay in the District 52 Little League All-Stars tournament title game to deliver the championship banner to P-Town.

“We’re not too much on big celebrations,” Luke Petersen said.

Pacifica was all-in on a big performance from Dom Paulsen in the tournament. Not only did Paulsen catch starting pitcher Robbie Johnson’s six stellar innings Thursday, he went 2 for 3 with a triple and an RBI at the plate. All told, Paulsen was 7 for 10 with eight RBIs through four games in the tourney.

“He had a good tournament,” Pacifica manager Neils Petersen said. “Even when he didn’t hit it hard, he was finding ways to find holes out in the field. So, yeah, he had an excellent tournament.”

Johnson stole the show Thursday, though, as the left-handed hurler dominated from the outset. He surrendered a hit to HMB’s leadoff man, Brandon Melo, who topped a swinging bunt up the third-base line for an infield hit. Johnson wouldn’t give up another hit until the fifth inning, when Aaron Ortega roped a one-out double to left.

Pacifica’s southpaw allowed just one run on four hits and three walks, while striking out five.

“Robbie is just the ultimate competitor,” Neils Petersen said. “When he’s on, he’s really hard to hit, and he was at it tonight.”

Pacifica led the whole way, and jumped ahead in the top of the first before HMB ever got into the dugout. Nate Hari reached on an error to start the game. Hari moved around to third on a stolen base and a wild pitch, then Paulsen capitalized on the HMB outfield playing nearly in the 408 area code by blooping an RBI single down the right-field line.

Paulsen, remarkably, didn’t bat in Pacifica’s two-run third inning. With 14 players on roster, Pacifica showed its depth of offense when No. 10 hitter Brady Fitzpatrick led off with a double. Fitzpatrick moved up on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI fielder’s choice off the bat of Ethan Tam, with Tam reaching first as HMB tried to throw out Fitzpatrick at the plate. Tam moved up on a William Gatley walk. Then No. 14 batter Sean Hagemann delivered an RBI single through the right side of the infield to make it 3-0.

“I was just looking to drive in the run,” said the left-handed hitting Hagemann. “He threw me an inside pitch and I’m good at hitting it on the ground, so I just pulled it and hit it on the ground in the gap.”

In the regular season, Hagemann is the leadoff man for the Pacifica Reds. Batting in the 14-spot was a bit of an altitude adjustment.

“It’s a little different,” Hagemann said.

Pacifica added two runs in the fifth, with Sean Bazanez drawing a bases-loaded walk to drive home Will Hanson. Then Gatley singled home Fitzpatrick.

In the bottom of the inning, the HMB offense finally woke up when Aaron Ortega belted a long double to left on a ball that nearly left the yard.

“He got almost all of it,” HMB manager David Ortega said. “He’s been waiting to really get ahold of one because he takes pride in his power. ... He’s been hitting well in this tournament and he just hasn’t quite got ahold of one like he did with that one.”

Camden Crowell followed with a one-out RBI double to get on the board. But the boys from the Coastside made it interesting in the seventh after Johnson departed, drawing four walks, including an RBI walk by Crowell to force in Javier Haro to make it 5-2 with two outs.

Pacifica reliever Santy Contreras started the inning, but walked back-to-back batters before Luke Petersen was summoned to close it out.

“My first pitcher didn’t have it and I couldn’t stick with him,” Neils Petersen said. “We didn’t have time to walk any more people.”

Luke Petersen got one quick out, but then struggled to find his control as well, walking two.

“I just got everything back together, went back to what normally helps me throw strikes,” Luke Petersen said. “And I was able to get ’em out.”

HMB’s skipper took solace in the last-gasp rally.

“These kids never gave up — right?” David Ortega said. “They all came out here to play and it was great to see, cause half of our kids are 13 and they’ll be back here next year. So, it’s good experience for them.”

It was an emotional win for Neils Petersen, who has coached this group of Pacifica 14-year-olds through thick and thin for a long, long time.

“Some of these kids I’ve been coaching since they were 4 years old,” Neils Petersen said. “A lot of them were little brothers and they were hanging around, and I put them on t-ball teams even when they weren’t supposed to.”

It isn’t the end of the line for the manager and this special group, though, as Neils Petersen is entering his second year as the Terra Nova High School junior-varsity coach, with most of this year’s 14s roster slated as incoming freshmen.

“They’re all coming to me next year,” Neils Peterson. “... I wanted to stay with them.”

HMB went 3-2 in the tournament, with both of its loses at the hands of Pacifica. HMB’s roster includes Jacob Couto, Isaiah Watermulder, Max Plancarte, Jordan Dolores, Nicholas Naylor, Tahlon Davis, Brody Barton and Brandon Jett.

Pacifica’s roster includes Elijah Mora Feldman, Riall Moore and Elijah Hermosillo.