San Mateo American swings past crosstown rival in District 52 Little League All-Stars 11s opener

American settled on its current lineup two weeks ago during scrimmage games. Things really began clicking when Mazin Khoury moved from the middle of the order to the leadoff spot. Khoury also enjoyed a big day, going 2 for 3 with a double and two runs scored.

“Mainly we found that our leadoff hitter, who was batting middle of the order, is just very effective at taking pitches, working counts, getting deep in counts and hitting,” San Mateo American manager Jon Wells said. “So, our 2-3-4-5-6-7, all those guys are very good, very talented hitters. So, we take the approach, just get guys on and start moving them around — hit line drives.”

American was playing as the visiting team, a strange feeling seeing as Trinta Park is their home yard. The bracket for the 11-team tournament is chosen randomly, however, with National earning the home-team draw.

“A little bit (weird) but we adapt,” Marinec said.

That’s for sure.

American didn’t waste any time, rallying for three runs in the top of the first. Khoury opened with a double, and Bayer got hit by a pitch to set the table. Bittle, hitting in the cleanup spot, then rocked an RBI double to left-center to get American on the board. Marinec followed with a two-run single to right.

“Our goal is just to hit line drives,” Marinec said. “We’re not trying to hit home runs. ... What we’re trying to do is just put a good swing on the ball and put it in play so we can get the guys behind us to drive in the RBIs.”

Marinec’s single also shook up National’s pitching alignment. National turned to right-handed reliever Jackson Bottani with just one out in the first. San Mateo National coach Gary Falzon said Bottani had been slated to start the second game of the tournament. Bottani answered the fire alarm Saturday by working 4 2/3 innings of relief.

“I’m sure it’s tough for a kid who’s, first inning, playing shortstop and doesn’t expect to probably come into the game that early,” San Mateo National coach Gary Falzon said. “So, he handled it well. ... He’s a competitor. He’ll go out and do whatever you ask him to do.”

National’s lineup looked to answer in the bottom of the first. And had it not been for a clever play by the catcher Marinec, the game may have played out quite differently. National leadoff batter William Falzon greeted the American starting pitcher Bittle with a long double, and Caleb Fuata followed with a single to center to put runners at the corners with no outs.

Then on the ensuing at-bat, National ran one of the most common gimme plays in all of Little League, the wheel steal, with the runner at first almost guaranteed to walk into second base. Only, American had a trick up its sleeve that saw Marinec throw the ball not to the second-base bag, but directly to the second baseman Colton Baker at his natural position. Marinec’s throw to the right side of the infield got to Baker just as Fuata was running by him, allowing him to swiftly slap a tag on the would-be base stealer, while at the same time using the throw as a cut play to keep William Falzon at third.

“We just made it up,” Marinec said. “Our goal was to get it to the second baseman for him to tag the runner. If he went home, get him at home. So, we practiced a bunch of that and right there it came in useful.”

William Falzon did eventually score on a wild pitch. But by the time Natinoal scored again in the fifth inning, American had stretched its lead to five runs by scoring once in the third and twice more in the fifth.

Bittle settled in and ultimately fired 4 2/3 innings to earn the win, allowing six hits and two walks while striking out four.

“Owen Bittle, he was amazing,” Marinec said. “It was like [4 2/3] innings of him just throwing strikes and blowing it past the batters.”

Bittle was also in the middle of all three of American’s run-scoring rallies. In the third, he produced an RBI single to knock home Baker. Then in the fifth, Khoury, Baker and Bayer opened the inning with three straight singles to load the bases. Bittle followed with an RBI infield single. Marinec then lined an RBI single to left to make it 6-1.

But National made some noise in the bottom of the fifth, rallying to push three runs across and chase Bittle from the game.

Christopher Vazquez drew a one-out walk, and Clayton Gabler singled with two outs to set the table. American turned to its bullpen, but National left-handed hitter Lucas Solis greeted right-handed reliever Brayden Sole with a bolt RBI double to the base of the wall in right-center. Dominic Castellino then reached on an infield error, allowing two runs to score to close the deficit to 6-4.

“The energy, certainly when Solis hit that ball to right-center, really tattooed it, I think that brought a little momentum and juice into the dugout,” Gary Falzon said. “And then we were able to hold ’em in the top (of the sixth). We just couldn’t get enough hits in the bottom half.”

Sole settled down and settled in, closing it out with 1 1/3 innings to earn the save. Sole is a new addition to San Mateo American Little League this year. The Burlingame resident played exclusively travel ball prior to this year, but got talked into joining San Mateo American Little League — which includes Burlingame as part of its territory — by some of his friends and current teammates, Jon Wells said.

“So, they finally got him to come this year,” Jon Wells said, “and he’s an outstanding player. He’s one of the smartest kids I’ve ever coached, and he can do it all.”

Sole was faced with another jam in the sixth. After retiring the first two batters, Casey Armstrong singled to center, and Ethan Chan reached on a dropped third strike, allowing Armstrong to advance to third. Sole was unflappable, though, collecting himself with a deep breath and pitching fearlessly to the strike zone to end the game with his first strikeout of the afternoon.

“He’s so resilient, battle tested, that he doesn’t let anything phase him,” Jon Wells said. “He sticks to his job. He doesn’t think about the noise, the chatter, the things that are happening all around him. And he’s just a very, very smart player. ... It was something that I felt very comfortable bringing him in in that tough spot to give him the chance to lock it down for us.”

American advances through the winners’ bracket to face Pacifica in the second round Sunday at 2 p.m.

Foster City and San Carlos also advanced through the winners’ bracket Saturday, with San Mateo National, Redwood City and Palo Alto falling to the elimination bracket. Belmont-Redwood Shores, Alpine, Menlo-Atherton, Pacifica and Hillsborough each received first-round byes and open play Sunday.