STOCKTON – Turlock American enjoyed a five-run fifth inning Saturday and Northgate could not recover in an 8-5 opening-round loss in the Section 6 All-Star Tournament at Christa McAuliffe Middle School’s Bruneel Field.

Tony Sanchez had the big bat for Northgate, going 2 for 3 with a pair of ground-rule doubles that knocked in three runs – Travis Rose (two runs) in the third and sixth innings and Colten Nascimento in the sixth.

In the fourth inning Northgate’s Landyn Parker plated Logan Ortega on a fielder’s choice and Kylil Mallory scooted home on a wild pitch.

Turlock used the long ball in the fifth inning – Wyatt Smith belted a two-run home run and Izak Marquez legged out a two-RBI triple.

Turlock belted three two-RBI hits in the first inning Monday to set the stage for a 14-4 four-inning mercy-rule win to eliminate Northgate from the tournament.

Trailing 8-0 going into the second inning, Northgate broke through for three runs. Parker (RBI, two runs) singled in Kylil Mallory and Nascimento and parker came in to score on a Jacob Qualle single.

Turlock bumped the lead to 12-3 when Sanchez was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, plating Parker. That was as close as Northgate would get.

Wyatt Smith (3 for 3, three RBI, double, three runs) and Elias Gonzales each had a two-RBI double for Turlock in the first inning and Izak Marquez (2 for 4, three RBI, two runs) added a two-RBI single for six of the eight first-inning runs.