P-Town party: Pacifica closes out District 52 Little League All-Stars 12s title for first time since 2017

What makes this year’s championship run special is it’s the first time Pacifica has claimed a District 52 banner as a unified league. Until three years ago, Pacifica had been dividing into American and National leagues.

“This means a lot of Pacifica,” Pacifica manager Louie Potencion said. “I wanted to do this for Pacifica. I think we wanted to do this for Pacifica. It’s been a long time coming, and this is the first time we’re together. Before it was American and National, and now we’re unified. So, this is the first time for a Pacifica unified, and it’s a big thing.”

Pacifica took a page out of the book of Alpine’s 2025 run to the West Regional tournament, when pitcher Nolan Levinson started a majority of the games, even in consecutive games, throughout the All-Stars summer season. This year, Pacifica asked the same of right-handed workhorse Miles Tucker, who started all six of the team’s teams in the district tourney.

In starting Wednesday’s championship round opener, Tucker finished with a soft pitch count of under 20, while working just two-thirds of an inning. That enabled him to return to the mound on no days rest.

“This is the reason why we held him back,” Potencion said. “Exactly the same reason. We were thinking he could pitch the last game, and this was it.”

Tucker totaled 18 innings and 305 pitches in the tourney. But Thursday was his crowning achievement, working into the sixth inning. The right-hander totaled 5 1/3 innings of work until giving the ball to right-handed closer Jackson Painter after maxing out his pitch count. Standing in center field after a wild postgame celebration, Tucker said his arm is no worse for the wear.

“It’s fine,” Tucker said. “It’s never been sore.”

When Tucker was done pitching, he moved to shortstop, forcing starting shortstop Mason Agbulos to center field. And after a fine defensive performance on the infield, Agbulos got rewarded by gloving the final out of the tournament — while flashing some range in the process.

Alpine’s Jack Schneider put a charge into one, shooting a deep drive toward the right-center gap. But Agbulos got a quick first step for a great jump, and tracked it down a few steps shy of the outfield wall.

“I knew I could get to that play,” Agbulos said. “I was super excited because I love playing center field. I love making great catches, and it was the last out of the inning, so it was super exciting.”

Then, as is counter to most postgame celebrations that take place in the middle of the infield, Pacifica’s players beelined for Agbulos to start a dogpile in the middle of the outfield.

“I was super excited, and I was like: ‘Oh my gosh! They’re going to tackle me!’” Agbulos said.

Like Tucker, Alpine was also facing quite a workload heading into Thursday’s finale. In falling to the elimination bracket Monday with a 5-4 extra-inning loss to Pacifica, Alpine ultimately played four games in four days. Alpine’s Jacob Mallari — who batted .368 in the tournament, including a 3-for-5 clip in the championship round — said the team was not tired Thursday, but energized.

“We were really excited,” Mallari said. “The thing about baseball is sometimes you’re always going to lose.”

In typical fashion, Pacifica had to stage a comeback in order to win the day. Alpine jumped on the board with two runs in the first before Pacifica swung ahead with a three-run rally in the bottom of the frame. Then, after Alpine regained the lead 4-3 in the top of the fourth, Pacifica scored three times in the bottom of the fourth and two more in the fifth.

“It is no problem when we are down,” Potencion said. “These kids know how to fight. They know what to do with the bat when it’s time.”

The sure-handed Agbulos made a rare miscue by committing an error on a ground ball off the bat of Nixon Strick to open the game. It proved a costly error as, two batters later, Ryan Cohen connected with a high fastball to line an opposite-field, two-run home run to left-center, giving Alpine a quick 2-0 lead.

But after Alpine cleanup batter Sam Kroll got hit by a pitch, Agbulos began his redemption tour. On the next pitch, Pacifica’s shortstop scooped up a hard grounder over the middle to turn an inning-ended 6-3 double play to get Pacifica back into the dugout.

“I knew I had to make up for it, and I went on a roll,” Agbulos said.

Agbulos kept rolling. As Pacifica’s leadoff hitter, he opened the bottom of the first with a line-shot double into the left-field corner. Tucker followed by reaching on an error on a grounder to the right, moving Agbulos to third. Jack Delgadillo got Pacifica on the board with a sacrifice fly to left field to plate Agbulos. Then big bopper MJ Spears Jr. ran into one, as the left-handed hitter crushed a two-run home run to his pull field, staking Pacifica to a 3-2 lead.

“Yes, I got all of it,” Spears said of his third homer of the tournament. “I knew it off the bat.”

Alpine drew even, though. With one out in the top of the second, Connor Murphy sparked a rally with a two-strike bloop single to center. Mallari followed with a two-strike single to right. Then, with two outs, Gavin Arditi sent a frozen-rope RBI single to center.

Pacifica may have had a chance to cut down Murphy at the plate, but the center fielder dove on the hard grounder to prevent it from getting by him, allowing Murphy to hustle home with a tying run, deadlocking the game at 3-all.

Tucker battled through Alpine’s one-run rally in the fourth. Cohen led off with a walk, and Kroll doubled to move Cohen to third. Tommy Brock then singled to the left side of the infield to give Alpine a 4-3 lead.

Pacifica, though, fired back with the team’s coronation go-ahead rally. With one out, Tucker and Lincoln drew back-to-back walks, and Delgadillo blasted a go-ahead double to left. Delgadillo moved to third on an error, and scored on an RBI groundout to second.

“I think their hitting was really, really good,” Mallari said. “When we faced them, we faced three home runs, and I think that’s their key component of winning, their hitting. And I think their pitching is pretty good. With Miles Tucker, he’s pretty good also.”

The bottom of the Pacifica order set the table in the fifth. Painter reached on an error, and Jake Schaible singled through the middle. Evan Lim reached on an infield error to load the bases. Agbulos then singled home Painter before Schaible scored on a wild pitch.

Pacifica now advances to the Section 3 tournament, hosted by District 45 at Castro Valley Little League’s home park. The tournament opens Saturday, July 18, with Pacifica facing Niles-Centerville at Five Canyons Park in Castro Valley.