Northgate Red’s D’Angelo Canela had the big bat Tuesday, but none bigger than in fourth inning when he smacked the second pitch he saw over the left-field fence for a three-run home run as part of a five-run frame on the way to a 10-2 win over Northgate Blue for the championship of District 67 9-10-year-old All-Star Tournament on Northgate Little League’s Gillen Field.
This marks the fourth consecutive season Northgate has won the District 67 9-10 banner.
“This feels really awesome,” Red coach Stephen Schluer said. “I had a lot of faith in my kids. We lost a tough one 5-3 to Tracy American and then came back through the consolation bracket to beat them 27-3.
“We fought hard with this Blue team and battled and won two games in a row. I give a lot of credit to their coach and their players.”
The game was close until that fourth inning with Red leading 2-1. Kila Day led off the Red fourth with a walk and went to third on a double by Blake Mount (2 for 3, double, two runs). Quinn Martinez (two RBI, two runs) plated Day on a sacrifice fly and George Mendoza (3 for 3, RBI, double, run) singled in Mount, setting up Canela’s monster shot.
Canela (4 for 4, five RBI, home run, double) had an RBI single in the first inning that scored Noah Navarro (four walks, three runs) and he hit Navarro in again in the sixth with a double. Navarro also scored on Canela’s home run.
Nate Cedolini started on the mound for Red and pitched into the third, striking out three, giving up two hits and a run. George Mendoza took over and went the rest of the way, striking out the side in the fourth and retiring the side in order in the fifth.
It is not like Blue did not have its chances. With the exception of going down in order in the fifth Blue got runners to third base in every inning and stranded eight runners in scoring position.
Brayden Camara (two runs) singled in the second inning for Blue and came in on Nick Garcia’s double. Rudy Barney doubled in the fourth and scored Camara in the bottom of the sixth on a fielder’s choice.
Red will represent District 67 on Saturday in the Section 6 All-Star tournament at 10 a.m. at Sunrise Little League in Stockton.

Section 6 Juniors
Delta 21,
Spreckels Park 2 (5)
Spreckels Park leadoff batter Blake Fonseca singled and scored in the first inning, but Spreckels Park offense was hard to come by after that in the mercy-rule elimination loss, giving Delta the championship banner.
Zach Fonseca singled and scored in the third inning for Spreckels Park and Jacob Martinez was 2 for 3.
In the top of the third inning, Spreckels Park first baseman Jakob Lopez made a spectacular catch of a foul ball by reaching over the fence near the visitor’s dugout.