San Mateo American rallies from five runs down in District 52 Little League All-Stars 11s tournament extra-inning thriller

Facing an 0-2 count, Parsons feasted on a middle-middle fastball to drive home Jack Fee, who motored around from second base to score with a feet-first slide, sparking an American celebration in the middle of the infield.

“I was waiting for the pitch and it was right down the middle,” Parsons said. “And that’s my favorite pitch.”

With Parsons’ exceptional exit velocity, and the ball hit directly at Menlo-Atherton left fielder Michael Leung, it seemed like San Mateo American manager Luke Kirby, who was coaching third base, might hold Fee at third. But there was no hesitation as Kirby waved the fleet-footed baserunner home.

“I was surprised that he sent him home,” Parsons said.

Fee ultimately scored without a throw to cap American’s biggest inning of the tournament.

“Jack’s got some speed on him,” Kirby said. “So, yeah, I had full confidence in him and his abilities. We’ve got some speedsters that I’ll definitely be aggressive with, and he’s one of them.”

The elimination game started out as a pitching duel, with the teams totaling one run apiece through six regulation innings.

American starting pitcher Tyler Kirby allowed just one run on one hit through 2 2/3 innings, before right-hander Jojo Piazza emerged to fire 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. M-A countered with starting pitcher Reed Miller, who allowed one run on five hits through three innings of work. Will Witham then turned in two shutout innings of relief, and Leung fired a scoreless sixth to send it to extras.

“We made more pitching changes than we’d like to have to do,” Menlo-Atherton manager Tim Witham said. “And then in the bottom of the seventh, the kids feel the weight of the game is kind of on their shoulders, and it’s a lot of pressure for them.”

There nearly wasn’t extra-innings, though, was American had several chances to win it in the bottom of the sixth. Kellan Revelo opened the inning with an infield single, then raced around to third when the catcher threw a ball into center field following a passed ball. But when Tyler Kirby hit a ground ball to the right side of the drawn-in infield, M-A first baseman Will Witham fired home for catcher Jacob Cline to slap the tag and cut down the runner at the plate.

The threat wasn’t over, though. With two outs, power-hitting Max Johnson stepped to the plate and connected for a monster shot down the left-field line that hooked foul. But, on the following pitch, Johnson put a charge into another deep drive, sending it back to the 220-feet sign in straightaway center.

“I got under it and at first I thought it was a popup,” Johnson said. “Because I saw the center fielder, he [came in], and then he went back like 20 feet. And then I was like ... ‘that might be gone.’”

But M-A center fielder Gabe Mendoza drifted back to the fence and had just enough room to station under it to haul in the third out of the inning.

“In our park, it’s out of here,” Kirby said. “And [the other field at Sea Cloud Park] it’s out of here. But this is a little bigger park. He got a little bit under it.”

Then, M-A broke out the bats in the top of the seventh. With a ghost runner starting at second base as per extra-innings rules, Leung promptly singled to put runners at the corners. Cleanup hitter Kai Swartzberg followed with a double to center to drive home two, staking M-A to a 3-1 lead.

“He’s a pretty strong kid, and he’s a good hitter for us,” Tim Witham said. “So, he has a good approach. He usually uses the middle of the field, looking to put something in play hard. And he got a pitch that he was able to handle and put it into the outfield, and that’s what we were looking for with runners on.”

M-A kept adding on. After back-to-back walks to Miller and Will Witham to load the bases, Cline lifted a sacrifice fly to right to make it 4-1. Then Milan Jacques singled home Will Witham, and an RBI groundout off the bat of Mendoza upped the cushion to 6-1.

“I think we were confident knowing we were up by a few runs at that point,” Tim Witham said. “However, this was going to be the type of game that is kind of attrition was going to happen here, because we all knew that if you win you play tomorrow.”

With cleanup hitter Koa Rosenberg leading off the bottom of the seventh, Parsons, batting in the No. 11 spot, was a long way from getting a chance to hit.

“I didn’t think I was going to bat,” Parsons said.

But back-to-back walks from Rosenberg and Luke Murray loaded the bases. Then, after an RBI fielder’s choice off the bat of Piazza, Cameron Mayer, DJ Ben and Fee worked three straight walks to force home another run, and leave Parsons champing at the bit on deck.

Traxton Kaho set the stage, at the No. 10 hitter flared a two-run single to right to tie it 6-all. Then Parsons finished it with the bottom of American’s batting order coming through in the clutch.

“They’re not usually in the bottom of the order because they’re really good hitters,” Kirby said. “So, it’s tough for them getting used to being at the bottom of the order. But they’re where they’re supposed to be so they can do things like this.”

Revelo, the No. 12 hitter, paced the team with two hits. American totaled 10 hits in the game, with nine different batters getting in the hit column. Jacques paced M-A with two hits and an RBI, while Miller walked three times and scored two runs.

With the win, American advances through the elimination bracket to face Palo Alto Friday at 5:30 p.m. Palo Alto stayed alive in the tourney with a win earlier in the day 7-3 over San Mateo National.

Eight teams are still alive in the 12-team bracket. In Friday’s other elimination game, Pacifica will face Hillsborough at 4:30 p.m. Saturday’s winners’ bracket quarterfinal round will feature Alpine vs. San Carlos at 10 a.m., and Belmont-Redwood Shores vs. Redwood City at 1 p.m.