11 YEAR OLDS: Petaluma remains Section 1 unbeaten on walk-off smash

Petaluma catcher Raime Dayton pulled a two-strike line drive over the Napa third baseman in the bottom of the sixth inning to plate a pair of runs and give the National 11-year-old Little League All Stars a thrilling 11-10 win and a slot in Wednesday’s championship contest in Section 1 play at American Canyon.

Results of the Wednesday game were not available at press time.

After giving up the lead in the top of the inning, the Nationals battled back to load the bases on a couple of walks and an off-field single by Ryan Fullmer, hitting in the ninth slot in the lineup.

Dayton battled to foul off a couple pitches before finding the range with a smash into the darkness of the outfield while two runners scampered home with the tying and winning runs to set off a walk-off celebration near second base.

The contest was a marked contrast of offensive approaches as the lead swung back and forth in the final two innings. Petaluma raked four Napa pitchers for 11 hits and had runners in scoring position in five of the six innings played.

Conversely, Napa struggled against National starter Ben Diaz, and the host team didn’t get a hit until a right-field homer cleared the fence struck by Ian Fernandez in the fifth inning.

Napa did manage to put a five-spot on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth inning, however, thanks to eight walks and a dropped ball in the outfield, allowing the lead runs to cross the plate. Overall, the opportunistic Napa National club was awarded 15 bases on balls in the game.

Diaz pitched well enough to win for Petaluma, but he had to leave with a 4-2 lead because of the pitch-count rule. Diaz had six strikeouts before departing, but a couple of runners were on base as a result of walks.

A slick double play started by first baseman Colin Landry bailed the slim right-hander out of trouble in the first inning. Landry grabbed a ground ball close to the bag and threw home to Dayton to get the force. Dayton gunned the ball back to Landry and the runner was out by a wide margin, much to the approval of the Petaluma fans along the third-base line.

As four Petaluma relievers paraded to the mound, the walks continued, including three in the final inning when Napa grabbed a 10-9 lead with only three outs remaining for the Nationals.

With pitching at a premium, the game was constantly delayed while relievers made their way to the bump on both sides. George Marzo, the last pitcher for Petaluma in the sixth frame, was credited with the win.

Jake DeCarli had another solid day at the plate for the winning Petaluma nine as he finished with three hits, including a couple of doubles. Carl Schmidt added a two-run double in the fourth inning.

The exciting win sets up the Nationals in the championship game to be played on Wednesday. A loss to the Napa-San Francisco winner would force a winner take all contest on Thursday.

District 3 champion San Francisco American stayed alive by defeating Lafayette 10-9 on the adjoining diamond Monday. San Francisco brought a bit of celebrity to the tournament at the American Canyon complex as San Francisco Giant General Manager Bobby Evans went almost unnoticed coaching third base while his son’s team notched their second win of the tourney.

Petaluma 8, Lafayette 2

In their section-opening game, the Nationals capitalized on early offense and strong starting pitching Sunday to beat Lafayette, 8-2.

The Nationals swung the bats very well all afternoon, and hit the ball hard against four Lafayette pitchers to win the quickly played game. Petaluma bounced back from a quick double play in the first inning initiated at third base to score four runs in the next frame against starter Collin Godfrey to take a comfortable 4-0 lead.

Consecutive RBI base hits by Zach Fiene, Ryan Vollmer, Dayton and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Marzo punctuated the rally. Dayton split the outfielders with a double to knock in the third run.

The Nationals continued their assault with two more runs in each of the third and fifth innings to pull away. The final two runs were scored with some heads-up base running, and without benefit of a hit, as Lafayette began to leak a bit of oil on defense in the late going.

Petaluma starting pitcher Schmidt turned in an overpowering effort to earn the win for the Nationals. Schmidt had his heater going, and got the ball past the late-swinging Lafayette club until he was lifted after only 51 pitchers with a 6-0 lead.

Schmidt had a effortless delivery going, and he gave up only two hits until he was replaced to preserve eligibility. He was at his best after giving up a three-base hit in the fourth inning with nobody out. Schmidt got out of the jam with no damage when a couple of batters could only bounce back to the box and the runner had to stay anchored at third base.

The only other hit against the right-hander came when lead-off hitter Nathan Nelsen bounced a ground ball high over the head of Petaluma shortstop Marzo for a single.

Diaz and Marzo followed Schmidt to the mound, and they kept things in order until the East Bay club finally scored two runs in the final frame. Diaz retired three of the four batters he faced.

For the first five innings, the smooth-fielding Nationals faced only two batters over the minimum.

DeCarli reached base in all three plate appearances, and he scored one of the runs for Petaluma. Vollmer finished with a pair of safeties to pace the eight-hit attack by the Nationals.

Lafayette, a 15-1 winner on opening day, could not catch up with the offerings of the Petaluma pitchers, and finished with only three hits and eight strikeouts.

Godfrey had an RBI single for Lafayette in the sixth inning, but the loss dropped his club one game from elimination.