Greatest game ever played

It will go down as the greatest game in the history of Little League baseball in Northern California.

Palo Alto National, last year’s Northern California 11s champion, beat Danville, 23-22, in 11 innings on Saturday in the Section 3 winner's bracket final.

The game featured:
-- Northern California record 45 runs;
-- 49 hits;
-- 18 extra base hits;
-- 11 home runs.

And that’s only the beginning:
-- In the 4th inning, a Danville batter had another home run turned into an out – a two-run homer became a run – when the batter was ruled to have failed to touch third base!
-- In the 8th inning, a Danville batter was robbed of a two-run homer when a Palo Alto fielder just inserted into center field reached over the fence and caught the ball.

For drama:
-- Palo Alto trailed 4-0 in the first, 11-7 in the third and 17-7 going into the bottom of the fourth and was on the verge of losing due to the tournament's 10-run mercy rule. A two-out two-run homer by made it 17-9, extending the game.
-- Palo Alto rallied to 18-17 after 5 innings and tied the score at 18-18 in the bottom of the sixth inning.
-- Danville scored one run in the 8th inning but Palo Alto answered with a home run by Austin Braff to tie it again. (Braff hit 19 home runs in his Little Leage regular season and was intentionally walked 11 times!)
-- Danville scored three in the top of the 9th -- on a three-run homer by its No. 9 hitter! – but Palo Alto scored three runs to tie it.

And finally ...
-- The game featured a four-hour delay, after the 9th inning, as the umpires called the game to allow the players to rest and rehydrate from the 100 degree-plus heat.

For the complete story

PS.

Palo Alto National needed to win seven games in a row to capture the district title after losing its second game. It punished its opponents with wins by 10-0, 20-0, 11-1, 12-2, 4-1, 9-1 and 3-2.