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Northgate 12U all-stars secure 3rd straight District 67 championship
Northgate-Manteca 12U All-Stars
Northgate’s Aldo Miramontes (0), Colton Coenenberg (12), Max Ussery (25), Jase O’Brien (catcher) and Isaac Aguilar celebrate with their team. - photo by DAVE CAMPBELL

SALIDA — Northgate captured a third straight District 67 All-Star Tournament championship in the major division with an 8-6 win on Thursday, but Manteca did not make it easy.

The two teams met earlier in the tournament with Northgate thumping Manteca 14-4 in four innings. Northgate picked up Thursday where it left off last time, bolting out to a 4-0 lead but scored only one more time before the sixth inning.

“It as a tough-earned win,” Northgate coach Chris Adams said. “The guys battled hard. We had six day’s rest and started off hot but then got a little rusty. Our pitching and defense did great, and our batters hit the ball well. We fought this whole tournament, and they did such a good job — I am proud of every one of them.

“This is three years in a row for Northgate winning the 12U tournament, and I didn’t want to break that tradition.”

Northgate led 5-2 after three innings. Tristan O’Brien (three runs) reached on an error to start the contest for Northgate and came all the way around to score on a double by Jase O’Brien (2 for 3, two RBI, two doubles). Tristan O’Brien dinked a Texas League single up the middle in the third inning and worked his way home on wild pitches and passed balls to make the score 5-2.

Northgate added three more in the top of the sixth to make the score 8-3 when Max Ussery and Tristan O’Brien reached on errors with Ussery scoring off of Tristan O’Brien’s error and Tristan O’Brien coming in on Jase O’Brien’s second double of the night. Dylan Quinton singled in Jase O’Brien for Northgate’s final run.

Manteca scored three in the bottom of the sixth and brought the tying run to the plate before a groundout ended the game. Braydon Hoffman reached on an error to start the Manteca sixth and Chris Antellas was up next and he was robbed of a single via a shoestring catch of a line drive by Northgate second baseman Aldo Miramontes. Jake Husband was hit by a pitch and Jackson Geer loaded the bases when he walked. Dennis Huber doubled in Hoffman and Husband and Geer scored on a sacrifice fly Cash Junqueiro to deep right, but that was as close as Manteca would get.

Manteca’s Dexter Dahle had the hit of the night with a towering home run to right-center field in the fifth to draw Manteca within 5-3. Manteca got on the board in the second inning when Mav Ochoa drew a bases loaded walk to plate Dennis Huber, who had been hit by a pitch, and after walking Julien Rodriguez scored on a wild pitch to cut the Northgate lead to 4-2.

Northgate advances to the Section 6 championships Saturday, July 18 and will play tournament host Hoover-Tyler in Stockton at 4 p.m.