July 9, Marina Field, Belmont. For the first time in this tournament, the PALL Nationals found themselves on the flip side from their customary fast starts, down 3-0 entering the bottom of the 1st. But that did not faze a defiant Elias Duncan who quickly answered back sending a hanging curveball over the left field fence closing the deficit to 2. Palo Alto continued their climb back in the 2nd putting the first 3 batters on base with Kylie Liu walking, singles by Rowan Felsch and Alex Rojas. Colin Lee got the first RBI and once again it was Duncan with 2 outs, hitting a clutch single to tie the game 3-3.
After a shaky first, Rowan Felsch settled in and pitched 3 scoreless no-hit innings, striking out 8 with 9 first pitch strikes. JT Barnett and Colin Lee had the defense highlights of the game with a diving catches robbing Foster City of 2 hits. But in the 5th inning, Foster City finally broke out with 4 runs going up 7-3.
PA Nationals again came right back with back to back singles by Tommy Leong and Zack Silver in the bottom half. Felsch followed with big swat sending the first pitch over the centerfield fence for a 3 run HR. Kylie Liu followed drawing her 2nd walk and Alex Rojas hit his 2nd single to set the stage for Colin Lee. Lee copied Felsch HR, sending his first pitch also to centerfield. And just like that, PA lead 9-7 going into the 6th.
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But life in the loser's bracket presses the upper limits for these teams often running on nothing but fumes. After 3 games in 5 days, Palo Alto gave up 5 unanswered runs in the top of the sixth but still limiting Foster City's big bats to just infield hits despite some heroic plays ending the game 12-9. After its all digested, the lessons learned will have this team coming back for more next year.
