San Mateo American rolls to District 52 All-Stars 11s crown

Moreno led American to a 9-4 victory over Alpine in Monday’s District 52 Little League All-Stars 11s tournament championship game at Trinta Park. The right-hander was perfect through four innings, setting down the first 12 batters he faced.

“I felt really good,” Moreno said. “A lot of energy coming into the game.”

Working four-plus innings to earn the win, Moreno struck out eight Alpine batters the first time through the 12-man continuous order. He departed in the fifth after surrendering four runs, handing the ball over to right-hander Jagger O’Brien, who struck out four through the final two innings to close is out.

O’Brien, Ward and Connor Workman — the core three of the “no-no kids” of 2022, a team that hurled four no-hitters in 11 games last summer — had done all the pitching through American’s first three tournament wins over Redwood City, Hillsborough and Alpine.

Moreno, though, has ace potential too. In the regular season with the San Mateo American Giants, a team managed by Gordon, Moreno was the opening-day pitcher.

“Talent wise, he’s No. 1,” Gordon said. “You can see that the arm is electric. He was a little bit up and down coming into the tournament, so we had three quick games, we just relied on the other guys. But we weren’t going to win the tournament without giving him a shot on the mound. This team is not going anywhere past this and next year without Christopher Moreno, so we need him on the mound. And he stepped up big time for us today.”

Moreno showed his No. 1 stuff with a brilliant No. 2, pitching off his fastball with a big-breaking devastator curveball. He struck out five straight batters at one point, four with the curve.

“Our pitchers step up over and over and over again,” Gordon said. “It makes it really, really easy to manage when you put a guy on the mound that hasn’t pitched the entire tournament and he throws four perfect innings to start the game. You look like a genius, but the reality is these guys are just unbelievable.”

American scored all it would need in the bottom of the first inning, rallying for seven runs while sending 13 batters to the plate. Ward got his team on the board with a bases-loaded walk to force home Workman. Maddox Stone, Joe Biancalana and Milo Werner each had RBI singles, while Hudson Wong, Cody Gordon and Pono Rosenberg each drew RBI walks.

In the fourth, American added two more runs, and came within a few feet of winning via 10-run rule, which would have given Moreno a four-inning, mercy-rule perfect game.

Carter Weyer drew a one-out walk and later scored on a wild pitch. Then Workman singled, Moreno reached on an error and O’Brien worked a 3-2 walk to load the bases. Ward followed with an RBI fielder’s choice on a grounder to third for the second out of the inning. Then William Meza hit a line drive to left that, off the bat, sounded like the game-winner, but hung up long enough to be tracked down in left field for the final out of the inning.

In the top of the fifth, Alpine finally got to Moreno. Matt McGrory drew a leadoff walk to wreck the perfect game, Lane Okarma followed with a single to right to break up the no-hitter, and Blake Budelli singled to left to ruin the shutout, with the ball being misplayed to score McGrory and Okarma, and Blake Budelli advancing to third.

“That set the tone for this baseball game,” Alpine manager Mike Budelli said. “We got no-hit last year. This year, our boys played with heart and never gave up. Blake Badelli gets us rolling, a hundred perfect.”

After Blake Budelli scored on passed ball, Roman Trujillo teed off for a solo home run to center. O’Brien then emerged in relief to strike out the side from there.

Moreno said he was aware of the perfect game when he started the fifth inning.

“My arm was a little sore,” Moreno said. “I couldn’t throw as hard as I was the first [few] innings. And they hit the ball really good, the other team.”

In addition to Trujillo clubbing his first home run of the tournament, the right-hander bridged the pitching for Alpine. Entering in relief with one out in the first, Trujillo worked three innings, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out two.

American — who batted .386 as a team in the tournament — stranded 10 base runners in the game.

In the sixth, American’s middle infield wrapped up the district championship. After Alpine’s Max Masters got hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, O’Brien notched his fourth strikeout of the evening for the first out of the frame. The second out came on a chopper over the middle, with the shortstop Workman ranging in and finishing with a creative crow hop to turn and throw to the second baseman Cody Gordon, forcing out Masters. Then a soft liner to the right side of the infield ended it, with Cody Gordon gliding back a few steps onto the outfield grass to grab it.

“I was happy it didn’t carry to the right fielder because I wanted to make that play,” Cody Gordon said. “I was going after that ball either way, even if it was out in right field.”

The second baseman’s catch set off the American celebration in the middle of the Trinta Park infield, the same diamond where the team celebrated the District 52 10s championship win over Alpine last year.

“It’s fun,” Cody Gordon said. “Just like last year. Hopefully we can do it two more times.”

American went on to win three straight championship banners in 2022, culminating in the first Northern California title in San Mateo American history. Monday’s District 52 banner makes it four straight tournament titles for the core group of All-Stars.

“It never gets old,” Gordon said. “You look up there, we’ve got a bunch of banners, but you can go 20, 30 years between some of those things. So, I told them don’t take this for granted.”

San Mateo American now advances to the Section 3 tournament, set to open Saturday, July 15.