Little League All-Stars make third consecutive trip to section championship

The Tiburon Peninsula Little League All-Stars battled their way from the losers’ bracket into the NorCal Section 1 championship game for the third consecutive year, but their journey came to an end July 18 in a 5-2 loss to tournament host and powerhouse Vacaville American.

It was an uphill battle from the start. As the District 3 champion — also for the third consecutive year — Tiburon was facing the winners from other North Bay districts in the sectional tournament for a chance to advance toward the Little League World Series. However, they lost their first game to Mark West on July 14 and were immediately relegated to the losers’ bracket.

That meant they had to go undefeated the rest of the tournament to get to the championship, then beat the winners-bracket seed twice to win the title under double-elimination rules — or five straight wins. Meanwhile, Vacaville had a first-round bye, so they needed two wins to make the championship game.

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