San Mateo National falls to San Ramon Valley in Section 3 Little League All-Stars 11s finals

Waiting for National at Danville’s Los Cerros Middle School was District 57 representative and host, San Ramon Valley — the team that sent National into the elimination bracket in the first place following a 6-3 win in Saturday’s second round.

And in the end, the bounces do eventually even out — usually not in the same game, however.

There were two bad-hop singles, one for each team. But San Ramon Valley’s fortuitous bounce came amid a three-run rally in the bottom of the fifth inning, turning a 2-1 deficit into an eventual 4-2 win.

It was the second Section 3 title for the majority of this year’s SRV squad, which won the 10s state championship last season.

“That’s a state champion over there,” National acting manager Zach Horn said. “When the other coach says we’re the toughest team they’ve played (over the last two All-Star seasons), that says a lot about our team.”

National took advantage of a its bad-hop break in the top of the first inning. Jack Hurley maintained National’s momentum from Monday night’s 11-10, come-from-behind win over Union City National by leading off the game with a laser to the right-center field gap for a double. Hurley went to third on a passed ball before Mason Lambrechts drew a walk to put runners on the corners.

That brought up cleanup hitter Luke Passalacqua, who jumped on the first pitch and hit an awkward grounder that took a wicked hop over the SRV shortstop’s right shoulder and into left field to drive in Hurley for a 1-0 National lead.

With two outs, Caden Jensen had the bill of his batting helmet clipped by a pitch to load the bases for National, but a strikeout ended the threat.

In the bottom of the fifth, SRV finally figured out National starting pitcher Sterling Bailey, who had lived up to his name with 4 2/3 sterling innings of work. San Ramon had scratched out an unearned run in the bottom of the third, but had never really threatened up the fifth inning.

And the SRV rally came with two outs. After a Camden Kangas leadoff single, Bailey got back-to-back strikeouts looking. But a walk to Hudson Bohanan put Kangas in scoring position and that’s when the baseball gods smiled on SRV’s Dane Isom. He swung at the first pitch he saw, hitting what appeared to be a routine grounder to second — only to the see the ball hop over the second baseman’s glove and into right field, driving in Kangas with the game-tying run.

Both runners moved up on a throw through to the catcher and that was a critical 60 feet as both would come in to score. Bohanan scored on a wild pitch for a 3-2 lead.

Again, Bailey appeared out of the inning when he induced another routine grounder to second. This time, the defender simply misplayed the ball between his legs which allowed Isom to score an insurance run.

“(The bounces) do even out,” Horn said. “Tonight, it didn’t break our way.”

With reliever Luke Guevara on the mound, all SRV needed was the lead because he closed out the game with authority, pitching the final 2 1/3 innings, striking out four of the eight batters he faced.

“Their pitcher at the end was throwing gas,” Horn said.

Between National’s opening salvo and SRV’s rally, there was a whole lot of strong pitching and defense. After driving in the first run of the in the top of the first, National’s Passalacqua made the defensive play of the game in the bottom of the frame, chasing down Brantley Brazil’s bid for extra bases by making an over-the-shoulder catch on the run. SRV did manage two hits against Bailey in the opening inning, but Bailey was in cruise control early as he averaged just 13 1/2 pitches in the first four innings.

“[Bailey] had some success against them on Sunday,”Horn said. “We had to ride the hot hand.”

National doubled its lead in the second inning on a Joel Price RBI groundout. Laguna had led off the inning with a walk and moved to third on a pair of wild pitches ahead of Price’s grounder to first base.

But that would be all National would get against SRV starter Camden Purkiss, who despite weaving in and out of trouble, kept his team in the game. He gave up two runs on just three hits, while also issuing five walks and striking out five.

“It was great pitching on both side,” Horn said.

SRV got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third, taking advantage of two errors — both on the same play. With one out, Miles Cook hit an easy grounder to first that was booted for an error. National then compounded the mistake when the second baseman scrambled after the loose ball and threw it past the bag, enabling Cook to not only reach on an error, but give him second on the second mistake.

Again, it was an important 60 feet as Cook went to third on a Guervara single and scored on a wild pitch.

But Bailey kept the SRV bats at bay until the bottom of the fifth.

“These boys were unwavering,” Horn said of his team, which went a perfect 4-0 in capturing the District 52 crown. “It was a battle all the way. Couldn’t have been tighter.”