With a 14-run outburst in the final inning, the Alpine-West Menlo Little League all-stars easily took the District 52 age 10-11 tournament title on July 7 at Arguello Field in San Carlos, defeating Hillsborough, 24-6.
“Hillsborough came into the game with a large number of pitchers unavailable, while we came in with our number one pitcher on the mound,” Alpine coach Mark Martella said. “That was the whole difference of the game.”
Hillsborough had gone through its pitchers in a game with San Carlos that was called due to darkness the night before the championship game. Then on the next morning, before facing Alpine, Hillsborough had to finish the San Carlos game, eventually winning 14-12.
Four Alpine players walked in the first two innings of the title game, while Alpine pitcher Kodiak Conrad had a no-hitter through the first four innings, and five strikeouts overall.
Alpine jumped to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning, and led 4-0 through the third. Alpine kept up the momentum in the fourth. With the based loaded, Conrad doubled, driving in three, but was tagged out trying to take third.
Hillsborough did not score until the bottom of the fifth, and trailed 10-2 going into the sixth and final inning.
In the 14-run sixth, Jared Lucian hit a three-run homer for Alpine, giving him six RBIs for the game.
Even a grand-slam home run for Hillsborough in the bottom of the sixth wasn’t enough to catch Alpine.
Lucian led Alpine with four hits, followed by Conrad and Mitch Martella with three each. Rylin Pade got on base all six times he batted.
Ten of the 13 players on the Alpine team had played on the Alpine all-stars team the previous year, which also won the championship. “We had a big advantage because our defensive strategy was familiar to the returning players,” Martella said.
The two-week double-elimination tournament had 16 teams, which were seeded in a random draw. Alpine had a perfect record, 4-0, before the championship game. Hillsborough had lost its first game against Palo Alto National, so it had to rise from the loser’s bracket in order to play in the championship game.
Alpine moves on to the Section 3 tournament in Tracy, where it will face the District 45 champ. The game is at 11 a.m. Saturday, July 18, at Jefferson #4 field, 7500 Linne Road in Tracy.
