San Mateo American 10s: Nor Cal champs!

Through three wins in the Nor Cal tournament, American surrendered just one hit. The first two wins of the tourney were back-to-back no-hitters — 6-1 over McKinleyville and 10-0 over Los Altos — with the staff of Ward, O’Brien and Conor Workman combining for 16 1/3 no-hit innings until McKinleyville’s Breyden Brock lined a single to center with one out in the sixth and final inning of Thursday’s championship finale.

“These guys are unbelievable,” San Mateo American manager Jason Gordon said. “I mean, one hit in three games against the best competition in Northern California, that’s pretty amazing.”

American’s defense delivered as well, culminating in an exciting double play to end the game. With runners on first and second and one out, McKinleyville sent a deep fly ball to right field. American right fielder Hudson Wong ranged back to haul it in for the second out. Then with the McKinleyville runners in motion, Wong dropped the hammer.

“Once it got off the bat, I knew it was going to be deep, so I went back,” Wong said. “And then once I caught the ball, I heard my coaches and some of my teammates yelling at me to throw it to first base. Then I saw that the runner was around second base, so I knew that if I made a good throw then I could hose him.”

The throw to first baseman Maddox Stone indeed doubled off the runner at first to set off the celebration in the middle of the infield.

“I threw my glove up and everybody just started running at me and just started tackling me,” O’Brien said.

American’s defense set the tone from the outset.

With Ward taking his third straight starting pitching assignment, McKinleyville stepped to the plate with an aggressive approach. Leadoff hitter Colton Hawkes jumped on the first pitch of the game sending a screaming line drive toward the middle of the diamond. But Workman at shortstop got a lightning-fast first step, ranging to his left to snag the liner out of midair.

That first out did plenty to settle any championship-game jitters Ward was feeling.

“It kind of did,” Ward said. “It was a really good pitch but he kind of got his barrel to it. And Conor started back and then had to jump and made a really nice play.”

Ward went on to strike out 11 through 5 1/3 innings.

The American offense scratched out single runs in the first and third, both unearned runs, to stake Ward to a 2-0 lead. Then in the bottom of the fifth, American’s coronation saw nine batters go to the plate amid a four-run rally.

Ward drove home the first run of the fifth with an RBI groundout to score Workman. Wong followed with an RBI single to left. Wong later scored on a single by William Meza. Then pinch-runner Owen Bittle swiped home on a wheel steal, with the runner between first and second getting caught in a rundown allowing Bittle to dash to the plate.

Then Ward marched up the pitcher’s mound to start the sixth inning, trying to finish off the no-hitter.

The stoic right-hander got off to a good start by making American’s best defensive play of the night, ranging toward first base on a swinging bunt, going into a knee slide and adeptly under-handing the ball to first base to get the runner by a step.

Ward had a shot at the complete game in his sights, starting the next batter with 70 pitches, five pitches under the maximum pitch count allowed in 10s Little League. Ward started the next batter with two straight strikes, but on the third pitch of the at-bat his curveball was off the mark and plunked the McKinleyville batter in the back.

Two pitches later, Brock lined a single to center to end Ward’s night.

“Yeah, I really wanted the no-hitter,” Ward said. “But we still won, and I only allowed one hit. So, I’m fine.”

Ward’s departure did set up a rock-star moment for O’Brien, who received his own personal warmup music as the press booth cued up “Moves Like Jagger.”

“That gave me a bit of a laugh,” O’Brien said.

Three pitches later, San Mateo American was celebrating a Nor Cal championship.

“You’ve got a bond together for the rest of your lives,” Gordon said to the team as they gathered under the scoreboard in center field for the final postgame huddle of the summer.

“It’s really exciting,” Ward said. “We’ve never won this tournament before, so it’s just incredible that our 10s team can do it.”