Manteca scored five runs in the sixth inning but came up short, with Northgate winning 12-8 and taking the District 67 11-and-under All-Star title and advancing to the Section 6 championships tentatively scheduled to begin Saturday, July 17 in Stockton.
“I knew they would come back,” Northgate manager Aaron Rodriguez said, “The game is not over until it is over. They have a great team with great hitters and I am glad that our boys were able to get it together and finish it off.
“We came back from that first game with a lot of heart after a tough loss. Our goal was to start strong and finish strong and I think we did that.”
Northgate jumped out to a 9-2 lead after two innings behind a seven-run second. Buoyed by two Manteca errors and five walks, Landyn Parker (2 for 4, two RBI, run), Travis Rose (3 for 4, two RBI, three runs) each had two-RBI singles and scored a run in that big second inning with Tony Sanchez, Izaias Rodriguez, Urijah Lopez, Matthew Mendoza (two runs) and Colten Nascimento (two runs) each scoring a run.
Manteca strung together six hits in the fifth inning with Samuel Lucas and Julian Garcia (2 for 4, two RBI, run) each knocking in a run. Xavier Hardiman, Isaac Carrasco (2 for 4, two runs), Brennan McMichael (2 for 3, double, two runs) and Samuel Lucas (RBI, run) each scored a run.
Bode Hiatt was 2 for 4 with a double and a run for Manteca.
Manteca 11, Northgate 10
McMichael blasted a ground-rule double in the bottom of the fifth to plate Hiatt, capping an eight-run two-inning rally and give Manteca a one-run lead which it would hold in the sixth to force the winner-take-all game.
Northgate led 10-3 going into the bottom of the fourth when Manteca scored five runs. Alex Espinoza’s two-RBI double highlighted the frame for Manteca with Charles Rose (3 for 4, two RBI, two runs), Hardiman (2 for 4, two RBI, run) and Logan Davenport adding an RBI apiece.
Garcia (three runs) led off the fifth for Manteca by reaching with an error. Charles Rose, Hiatt and Espinoza (3 for 4, RBI, double, two runs) followed with singles with Charles Rose knocking in Garcia, Espinoza plating Charles Rose and Hiatt scoring the eventual winning run thanks to McMichael’s double.
Leadoff batter Parker helped Northgate out to its 10-3 lead, reaching base in his first four trips to the plate and finishing 3 for 5 with an RBI, a double and two runs. Parker started on the mound for Northgate and went three innings, limiting Manteca to three runs while striking out seven. Travis Rose reached in his first three trips and knocked in a run in his fourth at-bat, finishing 3 for 5 with two RBI, a double and two runs.
Sanchez went 2 for 5 with two RBI, Rodriguez was 2 for 4 with a run and Nascimento doubled and scored twice.
