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Cloudy. Low 57F. Winds W at 10 to 20 mph..
Cloudy. Low 57F. Winds W at 10 to 20 mph.
Most every baseball fan has sang a chorus of: “One, two, three strikes, you’re out.” But, rest assured, no one has ever even thought to write a song about what the San Mateo American Little League All-Stars 10-and-under team is doing this summer.
Forget three strikes in a row. American has now thrown three no-hitters in row, advancing to the championship round of the Northern California State 10s tournament at Julien Elementary School in Turlock with a 10-0 mercy-rule win over Los Altos. It is American’s fourth no-hitter in 10 games on the summer All-Stars season.
Starting pitcher Matthew Ward fired three perfect innings and reliever Conor Workman finished it off with two no-hit innings. Through 10 games, American’s pitchers have allowed just 18 hits, holding opponents to a .101 batting average.
“This is getting ridiculous where these guys are just dominating every inning,” San Mateo American manager Jason Gordon said. “It’s getting crazy.”
Third baseman William Meza had a big hand in the no-hitter as well. With Los Altos attempting a bunt in the fourth inning, the ball was popped up down the first-base line. Meza read it well and sprinted all the way across the infield to glove it and preserve the no-no.
“He got such a great jump, he ran in and made a headlong dive,” Gordon said. “Mind you, he was playing third base, and made a headlong dive and caught it like an inch off the ground.”
The American lineup got dealt a bit of its own medicine in the bottom of the first inning as Los Altos struck out the side in the opening frame. But the bottom of the American batting order got the carousel moving in the bottom of the second, rallying for four runs to take a 4-0 lead. American added six more runs in the bottom of the fifth to walk off with the mercy-rule victory.
Hudson Wong enjoyed a perfect night at the plate, going 3 for 3 with a double and an RBI. Maddox Stone added two hits and three RBIs.
“The middle and the bottom of the order just picked us up,” Gordon said.
Ward and Workman did the rest. Ward has now had a hand in three no-hitters and got the ball rolling with American’s first of the summer, a six-inning gem in the District 52 championship game at Trinta Park. Workman has pitched in the other three no-hitter — the Section 3 championship game, followed by the first two rounds of Nor-Cals — combining with different iterations of Ward and right-hander Jagger O’Brien.
Not only is the trio of no-no kids a formidable pitching rotation, the three also rotate at catcher for the team.
“They all catch each other, they play travel ball together, they’re all buddies,” Gordon said. “They’re all extremely competitive A-type personalities, they all want the ball, they all want to be the guy … but we have a formula where we trust them all to come in. It seems crazy to pull a guy out when he’s throwing a no-hitter. But they’re able to embrace it. … There’s been absolutely no animosity or bad feelings. … These guys all deserve to have massive egos and they don’t.”
Riding an undefeated 10-game winning streak this summer, American now advances to the championship round, starting Thursday at 7 p.m. They will face the winner of Wednesday’s elimination bracket semifinal game between Los Altos and McKinleyville. American has a loss to give, meaning they must be beaten twice. An if-necessary game would be played Friday at 7 p.m.
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