Strong ‘D’ keeps Foster City alive in District 52 Little League All-Stars 10s tournament

Both teams rallied in the first inning to send it to the second tied 2-2. Then the left side of the infield stepped up for Foster City, making two clutch plays to calm the waters, and relief pitchers Akito Lekomtsev and Krish Gupta took advantage by combining for four innings without surrendering an earned run.

“They put in a ton of work,” Foster City manager Jonathan Allen said. “We lost the first game, and to see them come back and be so confident and focused today, that’s what I’m most proud of.”

In Saturday’s opener, an 8-3 loss to San Mateo National, the wheel’s came off for the Foster City defense as they committed seven errors.

“We threw the ball away and we couldn’t field a ground ball,” Foster City shortstop Nicholas Allen said.

One day of practice made a world of difference, as Foster City worked plenty on grounders and fly balls in preparation for Wednesday. And Nicholas Allen carried those many practice reps into the game by turned in perhaps Foster City’s biggest play of the tournament to date, getting the first out of the second inning by charging hard on a soft bounder, setting his feet on the infield grass and peeling off a rocket throw to first to get the out.

Then, after a one-out walk to Chris Jorgensen, Menlo-Atherton hit a roller over the third-base bag that looking like trouble, but third baseman Lucas Gao stayed with the play by ranging right, winning a wrestling match with a tricky hop over the bag, then throwing a short-hop to second base for second baseman Ryosuke Yoshimura to pick it out of the dirt for the second out of the inning.

“That’s the difference maker, is making the routine plays and then today we made beyond routine plays,” Jonathan Allen said. “So, I was really proud of the kids. They were super locked in.”

Lekomtsev went on to record the first of his two strikeouts to retire the side.

Foster City’s then rallied for three runs in the second and five more in the third. In the fifth, they scored three more to earn the walk-off mercy-rule victory. Connor Cha drove in the first run with frozen-rope double over the left fielder’s head to score Keaton Ho. Then, after a walk to Kedaar Vallanur Pramodh, Gupta delivered the game-winning with a two-run triple past the right fielder.

Cha paced Foster City, going 2 for 2 with a double and two RBIs. M-A totaled two hits in the contest with singles from Sam Carlson and Evan Sahagun.

Nicholas Allen has started both games at shortstop for Foster City, and patrolled the position in the regular season for the Foster City Little League Grizzlies. It is his first year playing shortstop after his 2025 season as a second baseman with the Space Cowboys, who had Easton Szerenyi at short.

“The balls were just coming more (to shortstop), so I just wanted to get more balls,” Nicholas Allen said.

The pivot across the keystone sack proved to be a championship move, as the Grizzlies won the inner-city championship for Foster City Minors this season. Six players from that Grizzlies team are now on the All-Stars 10s roster, Gao, Gupta, Connor Dai, Casey Chan, Kazuma Austria and Nicholas Allen.

But it wasn’t all a Grizzlies show Wednesday. In the fifth, Ho subbed in at shortstop and, sure enough, got the first out hit directly at him. Ho made it look easy, making a routine play and a strong throw across the diamond. All told, Foster City’s shortstops combined for five infield assists.

“If they’re here, they’re playing,” Jonathan Allen said. “And I’m proud we can get so many of these kids out there and they’re getting experience.”