In the end, it came down to a battle between Petaluma National Little League and San Ramon Little League.

But that wasn't a surprise. Though over 325 Northern California leagues entered the 2012 international tournament, it was always going to come down to those two leagues.

The core of San Ramon's team had defeated Petaluma National in the 2010 divisional championship game for the 9-10 year old division in Chico, and the next year, Petaluma emerged from the bottom bracket and defeated San Ramon twice to claim the divisional title in the 10-11 year old division.

In the 2012 Northern California divisional tournament for the major baseball division at Mission San Jose Little League in Fremont, the two teams reinforced this duopoly. Petaluma National and San Ramon beat all other comers at the Gomes Elementary School field, and split their first two meetings to set up decisive final game that would propel one of the two to the West Region tournament in San Bernardino, California.

And what a game it was. The two teams played the second-highest scoring Northern California championship game in the tournament's 56-year history, and the first extra inning title game in over two decades.

Petaluma National stood six outs from elimination and faced an 8-1 deficit before rallying to tie the score. They then stood two outs from elimination while trailing 11-8 before rallying again and forcing extra innings.

Finally, in the seventh, Petaluma's Bradley Smith dumped the first pitch he saw over the shortstop's head for a single into left field. Logan Douglas raced home from third, giving Petaluma a 12-11 victory and the league's first-ever Northern California championship in the major baseball division.

Petaluma National went on to win the West Region tournament, and advanced to the Little League World Series, where the Northern California champions finished as the United States runner-up.

Fans who followed Petaluma's progress in South Williamsport will recall the team's improbable ten-run rally in the bottom of the sixth inning of the U.S. championship game, when manager Eric Smith's team forced extra innings after facing a double-digit deficit in a 24-16 loss to eventual U.S. champion Goodlettsville Baseball (Tennessee) Little League. The District 35 champions had flashed that same tenacity in their comeback against San Ramon in the NorCal championship game.

San Ramon flexed its muscles in the early innings, building a 4-0 lead on solo home runs from Robbie Funkhouser, Ben Wooldridge, Sam York, and Zach Chalmers. Petaluma picked up its first base hits of the game in the bottom of the third and scored once to narrow the deficit, but San Ramon quickly extended its advantage when, following a single and an error, Ryan Cole slammed a reliever's first pitch well beyond the left field fence for a three-run home run and a 7-1 lead. Later in the inning, Nic McCambridge drove in another run with a groundout.

The score still stood at 8-1 in the bottom of the fifth, when Petaluma clawed back into the game. Dylan Moore opened the inning with a single, and ninth-place hitter Chase Tomei drilled a home run to left center field on a 2-2 pitch. When leadoff hitter Porter Slate followed with a solo home run of his own, Petaluma had closed the gap to 8-4.

They would soon close it further. Douglas, who had four hits in the game, singled, and Danny Marzo was hit by a pitch. After a strikeout, Kempton Brandis added a base hit that scored Douglas, and Hance Smith drew a walk to load the bases. Quentin Gago coaxed a walk from a new San Ramon pitcher, their third of the inning, and after a strikeout, Tomei delivered a two-run double that plated Brandis and Smith and tied the game.

San Ramon quickly regained the momentum, scoring three times after two batters were retired in the sixth. Woldridge poked a two-run single through the left side of the infield, and Matt Jew flared a run-scoring single just past the glove of a diving second baseman.

Petaluma again tied the score in the bottom of the sixth, and only a stellar defensive play by San Ramon prevented the District 35 champions from pushing across the decisive run. Douglas lined a single to open the inning, and Marzo doubled off the center field fence. Douglas scored on Bradley Smith's groundout, and the left-handed Brandis then evened the score with a two-run homer over the center field fence. The next three batters singled to load the bases, but San Ramon escaped the inning when Chalmers, who had moved to third base earlier in the game, grabbed Tomei's one-hopper, stepped on the bag for a force, and threw to first for an inning-ending double play.

But the escape was short-lived. Moore, who was so sparingly used as a pitcher that he threw just a combined one inning in two appearances across Petaluma National's twelve games at the West Region tournament and Little League World Series, had recorded the final out in the sixth. In a game that featured 23 runs, 35 hits, and nine home runs, the right-hander then registered a 1-2-3 inning in the seventh against the top of the San Ramon batting order. The respite gave Petaluma an opportunity to push the winning run across the plate. Douglas delivered a one-out single in the seventh, moved to second on a wild pitch, and advanced to third on Marzo's line single to left. Finally, Smith stepped to the plate and ended the game with his single to left field.

"We have a lot of faith in Dylan," said Eric Smith after the game. "He doesn't throw as hard as some of our other pitchers, but Dylan mixes his pitches well and he throws strikes. We let him stay out there against the first three hitters in the San Ramon lineup, and they were all dangerous."

The back-and-forth game marked the third time in the tournament that one of the two teams rallied from a deficit to earn the victory. In their first meeting, which came after Petaluma downed Turlock National Little League, 17-0, in the tournament's opening game, San Ramon grabbed a 5-2 lead in the first inning, but Petaluma National soon reversed the deficit and cruised to a 16-8 victory. York's three-run homer helped to stake San Ramon to the early advantage, but Douglas, Gago, and Andrew White combined to hold San Ramon to just three runs over the balance of the game. Petaluma, meanwhile, slammed seven home runs and scored in every inning except the sixth. Slate and Hance Smith each homered twice, while Douglas, Marzo, and Austin Paretti also cleared the fences as part of an 18-hit attack.

"The kids are hitting the ball for now," noted Eric Smith. "I have confidence that all thirteen players on our roster can put the ball in play against the best pitching. For the most part, these kids have been playing with each other for three consecutive seasons in this level of tournament."

Petaluma continued the power show in its next outing, a 15-0, mercy rule-shortened win over River Park Little League. Marzo, Douglas, and Bradley Smith combined on a nine strikeout no-hitter, and Petaluma turned a 3-0 lead into a romp by scoring twelve runs in the bottom of the third inning. Marzo (grand slam) and Hance Smith (three-run shot) each homered in the inning, while Slate led off the first with a homer of his own and drove in four runs. Gago also homered for Petaluma.

San Ramon, meanwhile, reeled off three consecutive wins on the trot in the bottom bracket to set up a rematch with Petaluma. The District 57 winners forced the tournament to a final game with an 8-7 victory over Petaluma in the first championship series meeting. San Ramon scored four times in the bottom of the first, but Petaluma pulled in front in the third when Marzo and Bradley Smith drove in runs and Gago followed with a long three-run homer. The Nationals carried a 7-6 lead into the sixth, but San Ramon rallied for the tying and winning runs when McCambridge's hard smash skipped past the second baseman and rolled to the outfield fence.

Petaluma outhit San Ramon 10-6 in the game, but the East Bay team drew seven walks in the contest. Chalmers and Wooldridge each homered for San Ramon.

The outcome set up the decisive final game, which provided end-to-end drama, and gave Petaluma bragging rights as most of the players stood ready to graduate to the next age level of play.

"The more I think about it, considering who we beat and the way we won on top of what we were playing for, it is unthinkable," said Eric Smith as his team prepared for the West Region tournament.

But Petaluma's high wire act was only getting started. For the new Northern California champions, the unthinkable, the improbable, and the dream summer were only just beginning.