Zach Hall drilled a three-run homer to provide all of his team's scoring, and his Lakeside Little League all-star team completed its long climb through the bottom bracket with a 3-2 victory over San Ramon Little League in the Northern California championship game at Osage Park in Danville.

Lakeside, which won five games in six days after a loss on the tournament's first day, claimed its second Northern California championship in seven years, and advanced to the West Region tournament in San Bernardino, California.

Hall's home run reversed a 2-0 San Ramon lead. San Ramon moved in front in the top of the fourth inning on Trent Kravitz's two-run single, but Lakeside rallied in the bottom of the inning. After a fly out to open the inning, Connor Briare and Grant Powers drew walks to set the stage for Hall's blast. The home run just cleared the center field fence, which sits 225 feet from home plate at spacious Osage Park.

"He got it up in the air," explained Lakeside manager Bill Rockefeller of Hall's game-turning homer. "The wind was pushing it back a little bit, but it had enough to get out."

Lakeside starter Nick Frank pitched his team to within one out of the win before exhausting his pitch count, striking out eight and allowing just four hits. Frank exited the mound after inducing a double play grounder to shortstop in the sixth. San Ramon threatened with a single and pair of walks that loaded the bases, then reliever Dylan Keeney came in and registered a three-pitch strikeout to end the game. Keeney threw two called strikes before getting the game's final batter to chase a pitch in the dirt.

"Those first two strikes put all the pressure on the hitter," explained Rockefeller. "If I had walked out there and told Dylan to do it, I am not sure he could have thrown a better pitch in a better location than that ball in the dirt. It was a great location."

Lakeside had forced the tournament to a deciding game by edging San Ramon, 1-0, the previous day. Pitcher Mitch Hart earned his second win of the tournament, striking out fifteen batters and allowing just one hit in a complete game effort.

"Mitch Hart kept a very good hitting team off-balance all game," said Rockefeller.

Lakeside pushed across the game's only run in the second inning. Briare singled to open the inning, then scampered from first to third on a passed ball when San Ramon's catcher had trouble locating the ball after it got away. He then scored when Powers followed with a sacrifice fly.

"We knew from the first time we saw them play that San Ramon was going to be the team to beat," said Rockefeller. "It turned out that they were very hard to beat."

Lakeside needed to run the gauntlet in order to get the opportunity to beat San Ramon. The District 54 champions dropped their tournament opener, 6-0, by Los Altos Little League, and spent the next week climbing out of the bottom bracket. Lakeside eliminated all but one of the five other entrants in the tournament.

"We ran into a buzzsaw of a pitcher that silenced our bats," said Rockefeller after the loss. "We gave up some walks early that turned into runs.

"(After the loss) I knew we would win a couple of games, but pitching is so important," added the Lakeside manager. "We got some great pitching all week and this team has great chemestry."

Hart helped to set Lakeside on a correction course, homering and pitching into the sixth inning of an 11-4 victory over Napa American Little League. The next day, Frank threw a walk-free four-hitter as Lakeside eliminated West Redding Little League, 6-2.

Hall's home run in he top of the second inning opened the scoring, and after West Redding tied the game, Lakeside capitalized on a series of defensive miscues to score five runs in the third inning. West Redding committed five errors in the inning, and only two of Lakeside's runs were earned.

"Nick Frank pitched a gem," said Rockefeller after the win.

"We faced a very good pitcher that threw gas," added the Lakeside manager. "We were patient and hit the ball hard (and) we took advantage of a couple of bad throws early on."

After an off-day, Lakeside then avenged their earlier loss to Los Altos, and moved into the championship series with a 9-0 victory. Unlike in the first meeting, when Lakeside failed to score, the District 54 champions tallied runs in each of the game's first five innings while riding the ten strikeout, three-hit pitching performance of Hall to the victory.

"The bats got it started early with two runs in the first," said Rockefeller, whose team took the lead on Powers' two-run triple. "And it seemed we added runs in every inning with hitting from several players coming through in the clutch."

Matt McCord keyed a second inning rally with a leadoff double, then Briare and Powers both doubled in front of Hall's run-scoring single in the third. A trio of hits produced three runs in the fourth, and Hall tripled as Lakeside completed its scoring in the fifth.

Equally important was the effort of Hall. The left-hander threw a complete game, and set the stage for Lakeside's two top pitchers, Hart and Frank, to throw in the championship series. Hall capitalized on the fact that Los Altos was missing top hitter Patrick McColl and a key reserve who both came down with the flu.

"The star of the show was the pitching performance by Zach Hall," said Rockefeller after his team sent Los Altos to its second loss in as many days. "He was on his game tonight. He hit his spots and kept them off-balance all night."

"All three teams that were left are legitimate Williamsport teams," said Los Altos manager Jerry Sorensen. "I think it came down to stamina. We ran out of gas."

After completing its comeback at the divisional tournament, Lakeside continued deep along a path toward South Williamsport, extending its winning streak to ten games by winning its first five outings at the West Region tournament. Lakeside stayed close early in its region championship game matchup with eventual Little League World Series champions Park View Little League (Chula Vista, Southern California), before a flurry of runs in the final two innings turned a 4-4 game into an 11-4 Park View victory.