Where there’s a will, there’s a San Mateo American way

Through three wins in the tournament, American — a team built on dominant pitching — has had its troubles at the plate. In the second year of the continuous batting order rule, the 12-man lineup of American is batting just .250 in the tourney, including a 3-for-19 performance Saturday.

“I think we’re kind of done yelling at them for not hitting,” San Mateo American manager Jason Gordon said. “Whatever. Just win the frickin’ game.”

Alpine starting pitcher Lucas Maffia kept American off the scoreboard for four innings. When the sturdy right-hander maxed out his pitch count with one on and one out in the fifth, however, American jumped on the Alpine bullpen to swing ahead.

It was a demoralizing fate for Maffia, who pitched through two hits, five walks and an infield error to strand seven American baserunners.

“He set the tone,” Alpine manager Mike Budelli said. “He battled but he showed his fight ... and we were going to ride him and give that young man the credit he deserved out there.”

The highlight came in the second inning, when Maffia walked the bases loaded with no outs. He took a few long walks behind the mound, swooped his hair back under his cap, and went to work by striking out the next three batters to leave the bases loaded.

“I was really just trying to find the strikes, not do too much,” Maffia said. “Find the strike zone, get in my zone. That’s really it.”

American employed a tested and true strategy of working counts and running up the pitch count. Maffia reached the maximum pitch count of 85 as he got to the bottom of the American batting order for a second time. He issued his fifth walk of the day to No. 9 batter Ryan Derossette with one out in the fifth.

“Just a warrior,” Jason Gordon said of Maffia. “We had a plan — took a lot of pitches, tried to get his pitch count up. He wobbled a few times but that was pretty impressive. ... It was like, if we can’t beat him, let’s at least get him out of the game.”

Alpine’s reliever won the battle with the first batter he faced by throwing the ball by him on a 3-2 count for a strikeout. But two pitches later, Cody Gordon got hit by a pitch to bring up No. 12 batter Carter Weyer. With two on and two out, Weyer came through with a clutch RBI double to deep left-center, coming within five feet of knocking the ball out of the yard, to tie the game 1-1.

“I thought it was a popup then, after like a second, I thought it was gone,” Weyer said.

Of American’s three hits in the game, only two left the infield. Both those hits came off the bat of Weyer, as he previously singled to center in the third inning. Entering the fifth inning, when American still hadn’t scored, the mission was simple — with the No. 8 batter leading off the inning, find a way to, at the very least, turn the lineup over.

“God love Cody and Carter” Jason Gordon said. “I told them: ‘Listen, I just need you guys to find a way to get back to the top of the order,’ thinking nothing like Carter’s going to almost put one out of here.”

Back at the top of the order, Connor Workman drew a walk to load the bases. Then, the play that every Little League coach warns his infield about by preaching to back up the pitcher reared its ugly head. During Workman’s at-bat, the Alpine catcher was firing the ball back at the pitcher. That got the wheels turning in the coach’s box with Jason Gordon and his son, Chase Gordon, at third.

“So, I told Cody: ‘Look, he’s frustrated. He’s going to throw one two hard and the pitcher’s going to fumble it — take off,’” Jason Gordon said.

The critical moment occurred with Hudson Wong at the plate. After Wong took a first-pitch strike, the catcher’s throw back to the mound sailed over the pitcher’s head, opening the door for Cody Gordon to motor home with the go-ahead run.

“He kind of just let his guard down and kind of lobbed it,” Jason Gordon said. “Cody saw it right away; the ball was going up over the guy’s head, and he was going back to the bag, he saw it, just kind of turned around and took off.”

Workman, on in relief, set down the side in order in the sixth, with the help of two nice running catches in center field by Weyer. Perhaps the biggest play from the American outfield came in the fifth, though. With a runner on second and one out, Alpine’s BJ Butler connected for a bolt to deep right field, where American’s Pono Rosenberg ranged to make a nice running catch tracking the ball back toward the wall.

“I was afraid it was either going to go over his head or over the fence,” Workman said. “But once I saw him get camped under it, it was like a lot of relief from there.”

Alpine’s center fielder Blake Budelli put on quite a defensive display as well. He opened the game with a sweet running catch sprinting deep into the right-center gap to rob Workman of extra bases. He again robbed Workman in the third with two on and one out, breaking in on a shallow flare to glove it on the run.

“He did really good I think,” Weyer said. “He’s good at tracking the ball, going side to side.”

American starting pitcher Matthew Ward worked four innings, getting snakebit for one run in the second. Cameron Pyle — who went 2 for 2 on the day — led off the inning with an infield single to the backhand of the shortstop. Then an errant throw on a back-pick attempt at first base went flying up the right-field line, leaving Pyle to race all the way around to third. Ward bounced back to fan the batter at the plate for the first out of the inning, but Jack McDonough followed with a sharp RBI single through the right side to make it 1-0.

Ward went on to allow four hits and one walk, while striking out three. He finished his day by inducing an inning-ending double play grounder in the fourth.

“Matt pitched great,” Workman said. “He threw a lot of strikes, got ahead in the count and kept them off balance for four strong innings.”

On this day, Maffia may have proved to be stronger had the pitch count not gotten him out of the game. Had it been up to him, he had plenty more pitches left in his arm, he said.

“A hundred — a hundred and something,” Maffia said.

American now advances to the District 52 12s championship round for a rematch with Alpine, after Menlo-Atherton knocked off Alpine in Sunday’s elimination bracket semifinal. American must be beaten twice to be denied the banner, while only needing win once. An if-necessary game is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

CORRECTION: The original content of this article has been edited as it contained a factual error. Menlo-Atherton defeated Alpine in the elimination bracket semifinals.