The District 12 9-year-old all-star tournament is under way, and on June 21 the Almaden North 'stars faced Almaden South. As history dictates, the North defeated the South 7-6.

All the runs for the North came in the bottom of the fourth when the home team scored seven runs to take a lead 7-1. With one out, Jacob Martinez walked and moved to second on a wild pitch. Ian Glusker reached on a mistake by an infielder, who threw to third to prevent Martinez from advancing but who failed to get an out.

With two runners on, Bret Hausmann ripped a single to drive in Martinez and chase Glusker to third. Glusker scored on a fielder's choice off the bat of Douglas Frazier that again yielded no outs and Jared Ferguson smashed a single to load the bases.

Hausmann scored on a wild pitch with Frazier and Ferguson moving up. Frazier attempted to score on a wild pitch, but was caught for the second out of the inning, Ferguson advancing to third. Cale Brendlen walked to put runners at the corners and then both Ferguson and Brendlen were driven in on a bomb of a double off the bat of Michael Rocca.

With Rocca at second, Jack Pizzo hit a flare that landed right behind first base and caused quite a bit of confusion, allowing Pizzo to reach second and Rocca to advance to third. Dyland Bell came up big with a base knock to score Rocca and move Pizzo to third. Pizzo scored on a wild pitch for the seventh run of the inning.

The South would not go down quietly and gave the North quite a scare in the top of the sixth. Trailing by only three runs entering the final frame, Kyle Marquez smashed a two-out double and Travis Painter followed with a single. Thinking Painter was called out, the North players began to leave the field and Painter made his way to second. Tyler Filizetti cleared the bases with a triple, but the next batter grounded out to end the game.

In the top of the fifth, Marquez had opened the inning with a single for the South and was advanced on a base hit by Filizetti. Ben Maxwell singled home Marquez and Mitchell White reached on a throwing error that cleared the bases.

The only other run came in the top of the first off of two fielder's choices with Painter crossing the plate.

Ben Maxwell topped the hill for the South and, except for the one inning, had a great performance with 11 outs by way of strikes in his complete game.

The other members of the North team include Lars Reinschmidt, Jack Ranney, Alex Collins and Ryan Osterback.

Rounding out the South team are Paul Rose, Nick Bachmeirr, James Ross, Matt Triplett, Matt Woodley, Troy Kenyon, Bruce Jensen and Chris Mohs.

The Almaden clubs were not the only teams to face each other in this tournament so far.

On June 18, Lincoln Glen defeated Willow Glen 12-2 and American bested Union 13-0. June 19 marked Willow Glen's defeat of Los Gatos National 15-7 and Almaden North beat American 16-4 in four innings. Lincoln Glen conquered Branham 10-0 and Quito took one from Union 10-8. Cambrian Park defeated Los Gatos American 10-1 and Almaden South downed Saratoga 12-8. In another game on June 21, Cambrian Park beat Los Gatos National 15-0 in five innings.