San Mateo National claims District 52 11s title

“I was looking for a fastball,” Benham said. “And my coach said: ‘Don’t swing at the curveball.’ And I swung at the curveball.”

It turned out to be the most pivotal swing of the tournament, as Benham was able to stay back on the offering just enough to bloop it just over the shortstop’s head and drive home Gavin Thompson with the go-ahead run, as National claimed the District 52 11s banner with a 3-2 win over host Hillsborough.

“Henry’s produced pretty well in this tournament, he really has,” Giribaldi said. “So, giving him a chance to put a base hit up there for an RBI, I didn’t want anybody else up there. He’s been strong all tournament, he’s got a couple big knocks … so I was happy he was coming up to the plate in that situation.”

The go-ahead rally in National’s final at-bat capped a comeback victory and rewarded the starting pitcher Thompson for a magnificent effort. The left-hander went the distance, overcoming Hillsborough’s two-run rally in the first inning to go the distance. After allowing three hits in the first inning, he surrendered just one more hit the rest of the way.

“I give a lot of credit to my coach, because he just said I’m still in it, there’s still five innings to play,” Thompson said. “So, I just hit the reset button and went pitch to pitch.”

The first four Hillsborough batters of the game all reached base. After a walk to Cole Callen, Johnny Gall singled, followed by back-to-back RBI singles from Griffin Luceno sand Robert Ramirez.

From there, Thompson set down the next 10 batters he faced. He notched 10 strikeouts, including a called third strike to end the game with his 84th pitch of the night.

“I just felt super happy to get the will and take my team to sectionals,” Thompson said.

Callen took the ball as Hillsborough’s starting pitcher and was fairly dazzling in his own right. He pitched through a slew of Hillsborough errors. As a team, they committed six in the game.

“My coach always tells me even though something bad happens, wash it away and think about the next batter,” Callen said.

The right-hander employed the philosophy well, battling through 4 1/3 innings, allowing just two runs (one earned) on three hits while striking out nine. He only departed after reaching the maximum pitch count in the fifth with the score tied 2-2.

National chipped away at Hillsborough’s early lead, scoring one in the third and one more in the fourth. Jackson Alvarez set the table in the third, slapping a grounder to the left side of the infield and using his dynamic footspeed to leg it out for a single. Thompson followed by socking a double up the right-center gap, allowing Alvarez to score from first base.

In the fourth, Camilo Guillen led off with a walk. After Tyler Oyekubo reached on an error, Toby Gray followed with a short looper into the middle of the infield. With the ball in the air, the baserunners had to freeze, and when it dropped, the Hillsborough defense had time to throw out Guillen at third. But the throw got past the third baseman, allowing Guillen to race home with the tying run.

Callen bounced back to strike out the side and keep the score deadlocked at 2.

“Cole threw great,” Hillsborough manager John Gall said. “He battled through some times where there were some errors in the field and kept his composure and got out of a couple jams.”

Johnny Gall took the ball in relief of Callen in the fifth. The right-hander escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fifth by striking out back-to-back batters to end the threat.

In the sixth, though, Thompson sparked a rally with a one-out single on a hard shot of the first baseman’s glove. Thompson stole second, setting the stage for Benham’s two-out heroics. With Benham on deck, Hillsborough opted not to pitch to cleanup hitter Carter Barbera, walking him intentionally to set up the force play at any base.

“He’s just a great hitter,” Benham said. “And when he was getting walked, I was just praying to God that the baseball gods came to me.”

In the bottom of the sixth, Thompson got a little fortunate when Johnny Gall’s laser beam line drive found the glove of the right fielder. Luceno followed with a loud single to right. But National’s ace left-hander settled down from there, getting some help from his catcher Gray, who framed pitches like a champ throughout the game.

Gray is the shortest player on National’s roster. He may be the shortest player in all of San Mateo National Little League. But he’s one of the biggest personalities in the National dugout.

“He’s a little guy but, gosh, if I could bottle that energy and put it into other some other players, I wish I could,” Giribaldi said. “He’s a pistol. I call him the little spark plug of this baseball team, and you can see why.”

When Gray framed the final strike of the game, he exploded out of the crouch before the home plate umpire even had a chance to call it. Moments later, he had Thompson wrapped in a Buster hug in the middle of the diamond as National celebrated the District 52 championship.

“I kind of knew it was a strike, I stood up a little bit early,” Gray said. “And right when it was there, I knew it was a strike, I was so happy. He pitched an absolute gem. He threw so good.”

National now advances to the Section 3 tournament. San Mateo National will host the four-team tourney opening Saturday, July 16 at Martens Field.