Lanagan blasted a home run to lead Los Gatos American to a 4-3 win over Willow Glen in the all-star tournament play on July 7 at the Lincoln Glen Little League diamond.

Lanagan had some help from Ryan Martin, who smashed a single, and Michael Mitchell, who belted a single and scored a run in the win.

Willow Glen outhit Los Gatos, but was not able to come away with the win.

The Gatos American crew had beaten Union 6-3 a couple of days earlier.

Tim Garvey headed the offensive onslaught with two singles on the day. Mitchell, Brendan Crane and Alex Moser added singles and Michael Hodgman laid down a bunt single and scored a run in the win.

Union was not as lucky at the plate, but had some huge hits regardless. Twice did Union players go yard, but it was just not enough. Nick Taylor singled, blasted a jack and scored two runs in the loss. Along with Taylor, Ryan O'Halloran hit a bomb of his own. Nick Billmaier knocked a pair of hits and Philip Haywood and Taylor Donato each had a base knock.

Despite the two wins, and a thrilling 4-3 win over Quito to open the tournament, Los Gatos failed to advance out of pool play into the tournament playoffs.

Los Gatos American ran into a powerhouse on Saturday in Almaden North's 5-foot-10 hurler Gregg Hipwell. The locals lost a tough 4-0 decision to wind up tied with Almaden North and Willow Glen in pool play, all three clubs finishing 3-1. But Gatos lost the tiebreaker, and it was Almaden and Willow Glen moving on in the tourney.

Hipwell was an imposing presence on the pitcher's slab for the Almaden North, tossing a shutout for the win. The Los Gatos American hitters never quite got untracked against the tall right hander.

It was an especially disappointing loss for Los Gatos because it came in the final game of pool play after three straight wins.

Los Gatos threatened in the third inning when Martin led off with a single and Hodgman laid down a bunt that turned into an infield hit. When Mitchell sacrificed the runners to second and third, it looked like Los Gatos was in business. However, the Almaden North defense tightened and Hipwell got a strikeout to get out of the jam.

The only other potential Los Gatos threat came in the fifth inning when Hipwell gave up walks to Roman Hayes and Martin to open the inning. But two strikeouts and a line drive to shortstop, where Chad Hamel made a nice grab, ended the threat and Los Gatos came up empty.

Garvey was on the hill for Los Gatos American and fired five solid innings, allowing only seven hits and four runs, but he was tagged with the tough loss. Almaden North's Hipwell also went the distance, firing six innings and allowing only five hits.

Almaden was able to manufacture three runs in the second by mixing two walks and two singles. Steven Bianchi and C.J. Stilger had the good eye at the plate, drawing walks, while Michael Karabatsos and Chad McCarthy each stroked run-scoring singles.

Los Gatos first baseman Lanagan made a diving catch of a hard grounder and got the putout to prevent another run from coming in to get Los Gatos out of the jam.

Almaden added one more run in the fourth inning on some clutch two-out hitting. Ryan Smith ripped a single and then alertly stole second when the ball went back to the pitcher but no one was covering second base. It was a key play because Jordan Penny followed with a single to drive in the run and give Almaden's lead some cushion.

Karabatsos had another single to give him two on the day. Hamel and Stilger rapped a single each to round out the offense for Almaden North.

Los Gatos National

The combination of a one-out double by Nick Rossetta and an RBI single off the bat of Nick Fanning in the fifth inning produced what proved to be the winning run for Branham Hills in its 4-3 victory over Los Gatos National. The win solidified Branham Hills as the No. 1 seed in the south pool.

Los Gatos National jumped out to a 1-0 advantage in the first when Matt Horton stroked a leadoff single and came around to score. It remained that way until Branham Hills pushed across three runs in the third.

Chase Svendsen was on the hill for Los Gatos and had trouble finding the plate. Branham Hills' Michael Carroll, Kevin Rojko, Rossetta and Fanning all worked their way on with walks. Tyler Robitaille came through with a timely hit, and by the time the inning came to a close Branham Hills was looking at a 3-1 lead.

It proved to be brief when Los Gatos came battling back to tie it up in the bottom of the third inning. A walk to Dylan Lovit, singles by Josh Yun and Horton, and a fielder's choice from Sam DeFever brought in two scores to even things at 3-3.

Rossetta hurled a complete game for Branham Hills, giving up only four hits in six innings and keeping the Los Gatos offense off balance.

A couple of days earlier, Los Gatos National lost 5-3 to Lincoln Glen.

K.C. Carr singled, doubled and scored two runs for Lincoln Glen and Conner Hatfield singled and doubled, scoring once. Kevin Glomb knocked a pair of hits and scored a run, Ryan Albin singled and came home once, and Joe Sullivan and Ryan Sommers each singled once.

Los Gatos National wasn't able to put together enough runs, but their bats were still connecting. Joey Vizussi knocked a jack while Jason Shepardson and Alex Hammacher each singled and scored in the loss. Yun, Derek Powers, Devon Coen and Lovit each singled for Los Gatos.

National dropped a 10-6 decision to Cambrian Park on July 6.

The bats of Cambrian Park were on fire with four batters having multiple hits in the win. Jason Berticevich crushed a double and scored two runs, while Liam Johnson belted three singles and scored once. Robert Calcasno singled, doubled and scored a run and Nick Bertucceli singled twice and came home once. Brandon Kauffman also had two singles and crossed home safely twice while both Ryan Nunes and Chris Duke singled and scored. Stephan Meade and Dylan Bates added a single each in the win.

Though Los Gatos was not able to come away with a win, it was not for lack of trying. Los Gatos had three players with multi-hit days. Yun roped two singles and scored a run, Svendsen bashed a pair of base knocks and Shepardson nailed a couple of singles and scored twice. Powers and Jake Cathey each singled once and scored a run in the loss and Pat Skarlata also blasted a base hit.

Bob Scudder contributed to this story.