San Mateo American holds off rival in District 52 12s tourney

National set the table with William Falzon and Caleb Fuata leading off the inning with back-to-back singles to knock American starting pitcher Owen Bittle out of the game. Then No. 3 batter Christian Vasquez hit a squibber down the third-base line that initially rolled foul but, because of some serious English, spun back into fair territory. Khoury never gave up on the play and pounced with the ball seeming to roll every which way, only to grab it near the third-base bag just in time to get the force for the first out of the inning.

“For him to be able to react that quickly and make that kind of play was amazing,” San Mateo American manager Jon Wells said.

With emotions running high, National fans were screaming at the third-base umpire. The out changed the complexion of the inning, for sure, as National could have had bases loaded, no outs, had the call gone differently.

National third base coach Dave Fuata had the best view of the play, however, and agreed with the call.

“It literally went foul for six inches, then went fair, went foul and went fair,” Dave Fuata said. “Mazin picked the ball up awkwardly, his foot was blocking the bag. William slid right into the bag and he blocked the base. He was out. [The umpire] made a great call. It was the correct call.”

In the end, even Khoury wasn’t sure how he made the play.

“Probably instinct,” Khoury said. “I was just trying to get an out somehow.”

But with American right-hander Brayden Sole on in relief, the tension continued to mount. National cleanup hitter Michael Bahamondes worked the count to 2-2 but took a pearl of a curveball at the bottom of the zone for a called strike three. Then after Nathan Bosick drew a walk on a borderline 3-2 pitch to load the bases, Jackson Bottani stepped to the plate looking to seize on the mid-inning message from San Mateo National manager Gary Falzon — barrel up the ball.

Bottani did barrel it up, hitting a smash to the left side of the infield. He just hit it at the wrong guy, as Khoury shuffled to his left to knock it down. Then in another fortuitous spin of the baseball, it rolled not in the direction Khoury had ranged, but back toward third base, allowing him to run to the bag and scoop it up ahead of the baserunner for the final out of the game.

“He hit it hard,” Gary Falzon said. “But that’s baseball. He hit it right at the guy. He knocked it down, got the force at third. What can you do? That’s baseball, and the baseball gods didn’t rule in our favor.”

It was a bittersweet finish for National after the starting pitcher Vasquez bounced back from a rough start to throw five solid innings. American got to the right-hander for three runs, all in the first inning. In fact, it was the first three batters of the game — Sole, Colton Baker and Alexander Bayer — who all singled and scored in the first.

“Vasquez threw fantastic,” Gary Falzon said. “That first inning, they kind of just dinked and dunked it, and were fortunate to get three runs. And that was it. We were able to throw up zeroes the rest of the day, but we just came up a run short to extend the game.”

American set the table early, with Brayden Sole leading off with an infield single, and Baker following with a line-shot single to center. The National center fielder had a good chance to throw out the lead runner at second on Baker’s single but, with the play right in front of him, bobbled the ball. Bayer then stepped to the plate and made them pay, blooping a Texas Leaguer to right for single to drive home Sole, and when National’s throw home got past the catcher, Baker raced home as well, giving American a quick 2-0 lead.

Vasquez bounced back to get the next two batters to hit it back to the pitcher to keep Bayer at third. But with two outs and an 0-2 count, Carter Wells came through with a booming ground-rule double to right to up it to 3-0. National took some momentum into the dugout, though, catcher Casey Armstrong made an amazing catch on a foul popup, racing back toward the third-base bleachers to made an all-out sliding catch on the warning track to retire the side.

American’s starter, Bittle, was up for a duel though. He surrendered two runs on the night — in the second, Bosick led off with a double and scored on a Lucas Solis single to right; int he fifth, Bottani led off with an infield single, and scored a laced one-out double up the left-center gap by Casey Armstrong.

Then in the sixth, Wells and his coaching staff decided to stay with Bittle.

“He had thrown great the whole game, and he was 70 pitches in through five innings,” Jon Wells said. “Super efficient, throwing strikes, and keeping them off balance. So, our opinion was: He’s going to be able to get this done.”

It was a lot of faith, indeed, seeing as National had sent six batters to the plate in the fifth to get through the bottom of the order.

“The goal was: Get us to the top,” Gary Falzon said. “And to the credit of the bottom half of the lineup, they did their job and were able to scratch a run across, and set us up for the bottom of the sixth just the way we wanted to.”

Sole has been a versatile arm for American, though, and came in to earn the save. The right-hander has had closing experience before, getting the final out of the 2024 District 52 11s championship game last season.

“I thought it was really great,” Bittle said. “He came in at a stressful moment, runners on first and second, no outs, down by one. And he just locked in and threw three straight outs.”

With the win, American advances to the winners’ bracket semifinals, Saturday 10 a.m., to face Alpine. Earlier Thursday evening, Alpine advanced with a 12-1 win over Palo Alto.

National falls to the elimination bracket, and will play Hillsborough, Friday, at 4 p.m.