The Petaluma National Little League 11-year-old All-Stars’ battle back through the losers’ bracket of the Northern California Championship Tournament ended Wednesday evening when they were beaten by West Sacramento, 12-10, in a semifinal losers’ bracket game.
The Nationals lost their opening game in the tournament being played in Anderson near Redding, but fought back to win three straight before losing to tournament finalist West Sacramento in a slugfest.
In their final game, the Petaluma Nationals had West Sacramento tied at 8-8 going into the seventh inning. In the top of the inning, Sacramento scored four runs.
Still determined despite the 106-degree heat and playing five games in five days, the Petalumans fought back to score two runs in the bottom of the inning and had the bases loaded when the final out was made.
Although they were out-hit, 17-6, the Petaluma players managed to stay in the game with determination and defense until the final extra inning.
The Petaluma Nationals, winners of both the District 35 and Section 1 tournaments, were knocked into the losers’ bracket in their first Division game, losing to Pleasanton, 20-6.
Doggedly, they climbed back, beating Reedley, 11-1, Los Altos, 11-1, and Morada from Stockton, 8-4, before the end came.
Members of the Petaluma National 9-11-year-old All Star team were: Gus Acuna, Raime Dayton, Jake DeCarli, Ben Diaz, Zach Fiene, Beckham Gago, Jacob Haugen, Colin Landry, George Marzo, Carl Schmidt, Ryan Vollmer, David Wood, Kyle Yant and Callen Achor.
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