11-Year-old All Stars: Petaluma Nationals do it all to claim district title

The Petaluma National Little League 11-year-old sluggers put together a 3-star game Saturday morning, pitching, hitting and defensing their way to the District 35 Tournament championship with a dominating 11-1 victory over Petaluma American.

The win was the second for the Nationals over the Americans in three days, following an 11-0 win on Thursday. The Americans bounced back from that defeat to get by Rincon Valley, 7-6, on Friday to earn a second shot at the Nationals.

Things were only marginally better for the Americans the second time around. They were simply no match for the speed-changing deliveries of National pitcher Carl Schmidt, who pitched a rare complete game, going five innings while allowing just three hits. Twelve of the 15 American outs came on Schmidt strikeouts.

So dominant was Schmidt’s mound performance that he needed very little in the way of defensive support, although there was one sparkling play that he initiated on a come-backer that he fired to shortstop George Marzo, who relayed to first for a twin kill.

Only twice did the Americans show offensive life.

In the first inning, a single by Logan Bailey and an error put two runners on base, but Schmidt fanned the next two batters to end the threat. ?There was no way to end the American threat in the third inning when Bailey belted a shot over the center-field fence for a home run. Bailey had two of the Americans’ three hits.

Meanwhile, the Nationals, after going scoreless in the first inning, scored in each of their next four chances.

A triple by Ben Diaz led to two runs in the second.

Marzo and Schmidt went deep back-to-back during a three-run third.

Colin Landry connected for a two-run blast in a wild fourth inning that saw two National runners score on the same wild pitch.

The decisive 11th National run that gave it a 10-run lead and ended the game came in the fifth inning on a hit batter, a botched force attempt and two wild pitches.

The District 35 banner was a fitting reward for the champions who won the title by playing well in all phases of the game.

Bomb attack

The Nationals used a saturation bombing attack to blast their way into the finals.

The Nationals slammed four over the fence to defeat the Americans, 11-0, in a game that was ended by the 10-run rule after four innings. The Nationals hit home runs in each of the four innings.

Schmidt, Zach Fiene, Marzo and Jake DeCarli all belted home runs to fuel the Nationals’ ascension to the title game.

Pitchers Marzo and Schmidt didn’t need all that power as they dominated American League batters, allowing just one hit and three base runners over the four innings.

Marzo pitched the first three innings, walking only one and striking out three. When he was removed to preserve his pitch count, Schmidt retired three of the four batters he faced in the fourth inning, walking one and striking out one.

Bailey opened the game with a solid single for the American League. It was the Americans’ first and only hit, and he was quickly eliminated as National shortstop Schmidt initiated a swift double play.

Although the Americans never really threatened, the game wasn’t as lopsided as the final score indicates.

The Nationals struck quickly in the first inning, with Ramie Dayton and Marzo slapping look-alike singles to left field to open their offensive. Schmidt promptly cleared the center-field fence with a three-run shot.

Dylan Peterson, the first of three American hurlers, settled in and pitched pretty well for the next two innings, although he was dinged for homers by Fiene in the second and Marzo in the third.

What had been a well-played game by both sides for the first three innings came apart in the top of the fourth when the Nationals scored six runs on three hits, two walks and a hurting error.

The Americans had an opportunity to get out with minimal damage with a bases-loaded come-backer to the pitcher that might have been a double play, but the throw home went to the backstop and the Nationals’ scoring spin continued.

Before the inning ended, DeCarli had soared a three-run homer over the center-field fence and the Americans had been 10-runned into the losers’ bracket.

Marzo and Fiene each had two hits for the Nationals.