A group of 12 players from the Lincoln Glen Little League took that first step that they hope will end with a final destination of Williamsport, Pa., and their dream coming true.

Lincoln Glen earned the right to pursue that dream by claiming the championship in the District 12 major division all-star tournament with a solid 6-0 win over Branham Hills on July 14.

The win advances Lincoln Glen to the section tournament scheduled for July 16­22.

A baseball team usually has a good chance of winning if it has any one of three elements—strong pitching, clutch hitting or solid defense. But Lincoln Glen had all three working in the same game, and it proved too much for Branham Hills.

The clutch hitting started in the first inning when Lincoln Glen loaded the bases with one out. K.C. Carr got it going with a sharp single down the third base line. Nick Mingione followed by poking a single through the hole and Kevin Glomb was plunked by a pitch. Branham Hills pitcher, Nick Rossetta, almost got out of the jam unscathed by striking out the next batter, but Lincoln Glen's Kyle Olugbode came through in the clutch. He lofted a soft fly behind second base, just out of the reach of the second baseman, for a two-run single to put Lincoln Glen up 2-0 right out of the gate.

The timely hitting continued when Lincoln Glen put three more runs on the board in the third inning. With one out, Mingione was hit by a pitch and Glomb jumped all over one, sending it back up the middle for a solid base hit. Joe Sullivan stepped to the plate and gave the ball a big ride to dead centerfield for a three-run homer. It gave Lincoln Glen a 5-0 lead, one Branham Hills could not overcome.

One of the reasons for that was the dominant pitching performance that Glomb put together for Lincoln Glen. He kept the Branham Hills bats silent all night long, giving up a mere two hits and striking out nine. In fact, Glomb allowed only six runners in the game. In addition to two singles, he walked two batters, hit one with a pitch and let one get on with his throwing error.

Although Glomb was strong on the hill, he had some excellent defense behind him. Second baseman Kevin Garish made a diving stop of a sharp grounder and then threw out the runner from his knees in the first inning. In the second, shortstop Conner Hatfield grabbed an over-the-shoulder catch running into the outfield to prevent a hit. Later in the game, catcher Carr fired a bullet to Hatfield covering second to cut down a Branham Hills runner attempting to steal.

Lincoln Glen added one more in the fourth inning on a pair of doubles by Hatfield and Mingione that both one-hopped the fence in right centerfield. Mingione picked up the RBI with his two-out blast. Ryan Albin added a single to round out the hitting attack of Lincoln Glen.

Rossetta went the distance for Branham Hills. He struck out five and allowed only eight hits in a solid outing but got very little offensive support. The Branham Hills bats never got untracked. Nick Fanning stroked the only two hits for Branham Hills. He rapped a two-out single in the first inning and poked a lead-off single in the fourth. It was the only inning that Branham Hills had more than one runner on base when, with two outs, Waite Consentino was hit by a pitch. Glomb struck out the next batter to end the mild threat and strand the runners.

It wasn't Glomb's arm, but his bat that was a deciding factor in getting Lincoln Glen to the championship game when he led the way in a 3-1 semifinal win over Almaden North. A two-out walk to Mingione in the bottom of the first proved to be fatal. Glomb settled into the batter's box and launched a fly right over the fence for a round tripper and a 2-0 lead for Lincoln Glen.

That margin would prove good enough to hold up for the win, primarily because of the outstanding effort from pitcher Zack Malik, who fired a two-hit gem for Lincoln Glen. Gregg Hipwell was the only batter for Almaden North that was able to solve Malik's magic and he did that in a big way. Hipwell connected for a solo home run in the fourth to temporarily cut the lead to 2-1.

However, Lincoln Glen answered in the bottom of the fourth by manufacturing a run without a hit. Albin reached first on an error and the speedster, Olugbode, was inserted as a pinch runner. He worked his way to third on a passed ball and another error. Ryan Sommers was able to send a bouncer to the second baseman that brought home the run on a fielder's choice.

Hipwell tagged Malik for a single in the sixth for the only other hit he allowed. Malik threw six innings, walked only three and struck out five. Almaden North's Chad Hamel also had a solid outing on the mound. He scattered four hits while striking out seven and walked only two. In addition to Glomb's blast in the first, Hatfield, Sullivan and Albin each singled.

In the each of the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, Almaden North had a runner in scoring position at second base but couldn't come up with the timely hit as Malik shut the door each time. After Hipwell's homer in the fourth, Stephen Bianchi was walked and went to second on a wild pitch. In the fifth, Jordon Penny reached on an error and scampered to second on another wild pitch. Hipwell and Michael Karabatsos found themselves on first and second with two outs in the sixth before Malik got a grounder to end the game.

In the other semifinal game, Branham Hills edged Los Gatos American 1-0 to get to the finals.

But elimination might have come a game earlier had Los Gatos manager Bill Martin not discovered a discrepancy in the tiebreaker system at the finish of pool play.

Los Gatos American, Willow Glen and Almaden North had tied for first place in their pool and went to the tiebreaker to determine which two teams would advance to the playoffs. Little League baseball's system allows for a formula based on runs allowed and defensive innings played to break such ties, and using such a formula Almaden North was named as the top team from the pool.

But the tournament director and District 12 representative used the same formula to break the tie for second, giving Willow Glen the nod to advance over Los Gatos. But Martin checked out the Little League rules to discover that the second-place tie in pool play was to be broken based on head-to-head competition, not by using the defensive equation. Los Gatos had beaten Willow Glen 4-3 in head-to-head play.

So at 2 p.m. on July 12, just hours before Willow Glen was to play in the major division semifinals, district officials gave the nod to Los Gatos. A disappointed Willow Glen squad was eliminated from the tournament, and Gatos would advance to a semifinal game postponed to Tuesday.