Last stand for Petaluma Little Leaguers in tension-filled Region semifinal

The wheels came off the Petaluma National All Stars’ Williamsport-bound bus in the seventh inning Friday afternoon when it crashed in a 6-0 loss to Torrance in the Little League West Regional Tournament in San Bernardino.

The game was perhaps the most important contest of the tournament, with the winner advancing to the Little League World Series. Torrance will join Honolulu in the Little League ultimate. Those two will hook up Saturday in a match to determine the West Region champion.

Friday’s final score in no way reflected the stomach-squeezing tension of the game between the two Petaluma teams.

For six regulation innings, Petaluma’s Gio Castaing and Torrence’s Gibson Turner matched pitching brilliance.

Turner, consistently bringing high heat to the plate, struck out 15 National batters and allowed just one hit, a bloop single by Castaing in the sixth inning. He struck out the side in three innings and no less than two in every inning.

Castaing mixed a baffling curve with his own brand of speed to strike out nine. He, too, allowed just one hit, a second inning single to Dominic Golia.

Only twice over the first six innings did Petaluma put a runner in scoring position. Torrance advanced a runner to third on an error, a passed ball and a ground out in the fourth, but Castaing left him begging a base away from scoring.

In the sixth, a single off Petaluma relief pitcher Will Hale sent a walked runner to third, but he couldn’t maintain contact, and a video review called him out as third baseman Declan Romo alertly kept his glove pressed against the leg of the runner.

The pressure on the young players and their families and fans went from extreme to oppressive as the innings wore on with neither pitcher showing signs of relenting.

Both moundsmen reached their Little League-allowed 85 pitches in the sixth inning.

Castaing left with one out and one on in the top of the inning and gave way to Hale who, with the help of the play at third and a strikeout, kept Torrance at bay.

Turner fanned two and gave up Castaing’s bloop into center before the umpires waved him off the mound and Dominic Golia came on to induce a grounder to shortstop to send the game into extra innings.

While the entire All-Star experience has been a dream for the National Leaguers, the seventh inning Friday was a nightmare.

The gutsy Hale got the first two Torrance batters before it all ended for the Nationals. A mad mixture of hits, a walk, an error, a mental lapse that led to a steal of home and all around badness helped Torrance become the first Southern California team since 1994 to advance to the Little League World Series.

Sadly for the Northern Californians, they almost escaped the fatal inning unscathed. Torrance hadn’t scored and had two two outs and three runners on base when a close 3-2 pitch walked in what stood as the winning run instead of recording the third out.

Petaluma got its second hit of the game when Hale led off the bottom of the seventh with a solid single off Torrance relief pitcher Golia. A force out and two whiffs ended the game and the Petaluma season.

The loss was only the second in the long Petaluma National tournament run that included wins at the District, Section and Nor-Cal levels to earn the trip to San Bernardino.