Turner shines as Alpine advances to Section 3 Little League All-Stars 12s title round

“For sure that’s important,” Alpine manager Dave Levinson said of his undefeated team’s sixth straight win of the summer All-Stars season. “Even more than that, I think this was a really good team, probably the biggest lineup we’ve faced.”

Bollinger Canyon did something no other team this summer has been able to do, and did it rather quickly — hanging two earned runs on Nolan Levinson in the first inning.

Leadoff batter Bennett Humphries set the table by lining a 3-2 pitch into right field for a single. Then Bryce Dinis stepped to the plate and connected with a first-pitch fastball for a no-doubt two-run home run, snapping the Alpine ace’s streak of 11 straight innings without surrendering an earned run. More importantly, Dinis’ blast gave Bollinger Canyon a 2-0 lead.

Nolan Levinson didn’t let another ball out of the infield. After Charlie Muir followed by reaching on an infield error, Alpine’s ace went on to set down the last six batters he faced, with three groundouts and three strikeouts.

“It’s the first time anyone’s punched Nolan in the mouth,” Dave Levinson said, “and so win or lose ... it was more a test again a bigger, really good competition. How would we respond? ... To compete well and get the win obviously is awesome.”

With Turner entering in relief to start the third, Nolan Levinson stayed under the 35-pitch threshold, making him available to start Tuesday’s championship game. In starting both Saturday’s 11-0 win over Newark, and again Sunday, he has recorded a 2-0 record through four innings, allowing two runs on two hits, while striking out nine.

Still, when it was all said and done Sunday against the mighty Bollinger Canyon offense, the rally cry for Alpine was one simple word:

“Max!”

Alpine swung ahead with a run in the second, and two more in the third. Then, with Turner on the bump and Bollinger Canyon turning over its batting order with the potential tying run on second and two outs in the fifth, Dave Levinson made a mound visit and — with a left-hander warmed up and ready to pitch to the left-handed hitting Humphries — he left the pitching decision up to his infield.

“And too a man they were like: ‘Max!’” Dave Levinson said.

Turner said he was poised to pitch four innings from the moment he took the mound in the third. What he wasn’t expecting was the boost of adrenaline he got from hearing his infield insist he stay in the game.

“Even better,” Turner said. “I love those guys.”

Four pitches later, Turner and Alpine were out of the jam as Humphries lifted a towering fly ball to Nolan Levinson in right field to retire the side.

That’s when Turner’s adrenaline carried over to the offensive side of the ball, and he delivered two big insurance runs in the top of the sixth with a two-run home run to center field. The strange thing is, Turner wouldn’t have gotten the chance earlier in the summer, as he had been hitting lower in the order. After batting in the No. 10 spot through the District 52 tournament, he moved up to the No. 7 spot for Saturday’s section opener, and Sunday checked the lineup card to find himself hitting No. 6.

“I was surprised,” Turner said. “A lot of people got changed. So, I just felt like everyone needed a little bit of change, and I guess that worked.”

The new lineup endured some fast growing pains facing a steady diet of off-speed pitches Bollinger Canyon left-hander Ethan Lee. And even though Alpine took the lead in the third inning, they finished the first three frames stranding eight runners on base.

Alpine scratched out one run in the second. Bodhi Bedner led off the inning getting hit by a pitch. With one out, Garrett Weiss topped a ball to the left side of the pitcher’s mound, forcing Lee into a knee slide while bouncing a throw to second base into center field, putting runners at the corners.

Then in the third, No. 12 batter Jack Chambers set the table for the top of the order with a leadoff single. Charles Saste followed with a one-out double, setting the table for a game-tying RBI single from Kogan Flannery, and cleanup batter Patrick Breslin following with a smash RBI single back through the middle to give Alpine the lead.

“I saw it very well,” Breslin said. “It was a curveball middle-middle, so I just roped it.”

Breslin would later help maintain the lead on defense as Alpine turned a clutch double play in the fourth. After Cooper Sullivan led off the inning getting hit by a pitch, Bradley Gunion followed with a frozen-rope one-hop seed, but hit it right at second baseman Garrett Weiss, who picked it clean to start the 4-6-3 twin-killing.

“I did not think he had that at all,” Breslin said. “It was hit very hard. And when he flipped it, I was like: ‘Oh, we’re turning this play!’”

Turner’s two-run homer in the sixth loomed large. Upping Alpine’s lead to 5-2, if gave Turner breathing room as he surrendered a solo home run to Muir in the bottom of the inning. The right-hander finished off the save fourth strikeout of the day. It was his first pitching appearance of the Section 3 tournament, and his longest appearance of the summer season.

“As soon as I threw my first pitch, I was like: ‘My arm’s feeling good, everything’s feeling good,’” Turner said.

Alpine now has some breathing room heading into the championship round. With the loss, Bollinger Canyon plays in the elimination-round semifinal Monday against San Lorenzo at 5:30 p.m. San Lorenzo advanced in Sunday’s early game with an 11-10 elimination win over Newark. Alpine, having advanced through the winners’ bracket, need only win one championship game to claim the Section 3 banner, while needing to be defeated twice to be denied the title. An if-necessary game is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.