But the Little Leaguers sure would have liked it a lot better had they pushed across just a couple more runs which eventually was the deciding factor in keeping them from advancing to the championship round of tourney play.

Early in the week Los Gatos American suffered a tough 8-7 loss to Almaden North, which also completed pool play with a 3-1 mark. The two teams tied for the second best record in north pool play. By virtue of its win, Almaden North received the No. 2 seed and the right to advance in the tourney.

Los Gatos trailed 3-2 after four innings but came on strong in the top of the fifth to score three runs and claim a 5-3 lead. Almaden roared right back to push across five of its own and stake itself to an 8-5 advantage headed into the final inning. However, Los Gatos was not ready to throw in the towel and fought its way back to score two before the rally died and the locals went home on the short end of an 8-7 score.

Gavin Honda led the attack for Los Gatos American by rapping a couple of singles. Peter Danna, David Picone, Nick Lamson and Benjamin Rosenberg poked a single each. Lawson also scored two runs and picked up a run-batted-in. Hayden Hibberd worked his way on with a base on balls and came in to score.

Danna was on the mound for the locals, going five innings and getting tagged with the loss. He kept the Almaden North hitters off balance with three shutout innings before they solved his magic in the late innings.

The Los Gatos American kids didn't let the disappointing loss get them down, though, and came back to knock out a convincing 9-1 win over American and a hard fought 10-8 close one over Quito.

Honda got the nod to be on the hill for Los Gatos against American and he was almost untouchable. Honda struck out 10 while allowing only two hits in five innings. His outstanding performance, combined with American's six fielding errors, was the difference in the contest.

The locals put three on the board in the second on singles by Picone, Lamson and Henry Kuckens and an error by American. They added another four in the third on singles by Sutton Roley and Picone, combined with another couple of errors by American. The final two tallies came in the fifth inning as a result of singles by Keith Brassil and Lamson.

Los Gatos American finished strong, hammering out the win over Quito to close out tournament play. It broke the game open with seven runs in the third inning. Honda got it started when he ripped a one-out double. A barrage of singles followed off the bats of Danna, Hibberd, Lawson and Roley. By the time the dust had settled, Los Gatos was looking at an 8-3 bulge.

Vega was on the hill and hurled a complete game. He was not dominant but pitched well enough to get the outs when he needed them and to keep Quito from stringing together enough hits at one time to cause too much damage.

On the other side of the tournament in south pool play, Los Gatos National had a tough time of it, dropping three straight games last week to end the tournament with a 1-3 record.

Los Gatos National ran into a very strong Saratoga team early in the week and suffered a 17-5 defeat. Michael Murano and Nathan Fumia each two hits. Fumia stroked a couple of singles while Murano banged out a single and a two-bagger. Tyler Olivet, Nick LaBombarda and Patrick Shultz each added a single.

Los Gatos National manufactured two runs in the first when Tanner Wingo and Tommy McCullough drew walks and then scored. Los Gatos pushed across three more in the fifth on singles by Fumia, LaBombarda and Shultz.

Murano (two innings), Kevin Brogan (one inning) and Robbie Dunne (three innings) were on the hill for Los Gatos.

Trailing 5-0 against Cambrian after two innings, Los Gatos National's bats came alive and the locals knocked in five of their own to tie it up at the end of three innings. McCullough got it going by working his way on with a walk. Six straight hits followed including a triple by LaBombarda that drove in two runs. Olivet, Dunne, Brogan, Fumia and Curtis Breidenthal each poked singles to keep the rally rolling.

Unfortunately, Cambrian answered with five runs of its own in the fourth and Los Gatos never recovered, resulting in a 10-5 loss. LaBombarda got the nod for the start and went two innings. Olivet came in to throw the final four innings. Each pitcher gave up five runs.

Los Gatos National closed out tourney play with a 14-1 drubbing at the hands of Branham Hills. The only run came in the third when Fumia and Tyler Little punched out singles and Shultz reached base on a fielder's choice. Schultz came in to score on Little's single.

Quito goes 1-3

It was a tough tournament for the Quito team which opened with a win but then proceeded to put three in the loss column last week, closing out north pool play at 1-3.

Quito ran into a buzz saw in the Lincoln Glen team that put 10 runs up in the first two innings before Quito knew what was happening. Quito never got untracked and Lincoln Glen prevailed 12-2 in a four-inning game.

The Quito squad came back strong in the match-up with Almaden North that turned out to be a seesaw battle. After Almaden North jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first, Quito picked up two runs in the second on a home run by Richard Prigatano to tie it up. Prigatano had the hot bat on the day, also banging out a double and two singles.

In the fourth inning, Quito pushed across four runs on only two hits. Prigatano and Brett Kentera stroked singles with Kentera's driving in a run. Adrian Medina lofted a sacrifice fly to pick up another run-batted-in. Thomas Marlen and Justin Leong drew walks and Steve Economy was hit by a pitch. Brett Morales and Kyle Peck got on base by errors while Collin Takaki was able to reach on a fielder's choice. All of that resulted in two more runs to give Quito a 6-3 advantage.

The two teams traded runs in the fifth and Quito headed into the final inning of play hanging onto an 8-6 lead. Quito was unable to make the lead stand up with Almaden North fighting back to score three runs in the bottom of the sixth to walk off the field with a 9-8 win.

The final game of the tournament for Quito was another closely contested affair with Los Gatos American. Peck started on the hill and gave up eight runs in three innings before Nick Streit threw one inning and allowed two more runs. Brett Morales came on to close out the final two innings and hold Los Gatos American scoreless to give his teammates a chance to come back. Quito could come up with only three runs in the fifth and none in the sixth resulting in the 10-8 loss.

The offensive attack was led by Leong, who pounded out two doubles. Prigatano, Takaki and Kentera also had multiple hits with each rapping two singles. Medina added a single to round out the attack.

Other members of the Quito all-star squad include Tyler Cowen and Bryan Bridgeman.

Majors get going

Cory Lanagan led the Los Gatos American major division all-stars to their first victory on July 3 with a 4-3 win over Quito in the District 12 tournament at the Lincoln Glen Little League field.

Lanagan had three hits on the day while teammate Tim Garvey smashed two singles and scored a run. Alex Moser and Michael Mitchell both ripped singles and scored runs. Ronan Hayes added a single and Brendan Crane crushed two singles to help out in the win.

The other members of the Los Gatos American team include Andrew Berg, Michael Hodgman, Matthew Calhoun, John Cameron, Ryan Martin and Cody Nez.

Los Gatos American was set to play on Monday against Union and will go up against Willow Glen on July 7, 5:30 p.m. American will face Almaden North on July 10, 3 p.m.

The Los Gatos National team was not as lucky in its first game as its counterpart from the American Division. National faced Almaden South on July 3 and lost 6-3. Los Gatos scored its first run in the bottom of the first with Matt Horton whacking a single, followed by Josh Yun doing the same. Horton eventually scored when Almaden turned a double play.

The next run came in the bottom of the third when Joey Vizussi was hit by pitch, stole second and scored when Horton ripped a double.

The final Gatos run came in the bottom of the fourth, which actually gave the locals the lead, but it was not enough to defeat Almaden. Jason Shepardson led off the inning with a big double to right center and was driven in by a single off the bat of Chase Swendson.

The rest of the National team includes Pat Skarlata, Alex Hammacher, Jake Cathey, Sam DeFever, Devon Coen, Dylan Lovit and Derek Powers.

Los Gatos National was to play Cambrian Park on Tuesday and will face Lincoln Glen on July 8, 5:30 p.m., before meeting Branham Hills on July 10, 12:30 p.m.

Quito drops a pair

The Quito major division all-stars have not been lucky so far, dropping their first two games. Quito lost 4-1 to Willow Glen on July 2. Michael Economy doubled and Drew Messer blasted a single and scored the only run for Quito. Nathan Gomez and David Webster each singled.

Quito also dropped one 4-3 to Los Gatos American on July 3. Stefan Eckhardt, Allen Van Dyke, Michael Combs and Steven Young each singled in the loss.

Rounding out the Quito team are Drew Hamilton, Benjamin Collier, Anthony Denevi and Myles Johansen.

The Quito team will step up against American on July 8, 5:30 p.m., and will battle Union on July 10, 10 a.m.

Kevin Sparrer contributed to this story.