STOCKTON — Northgate exploded with one big inning Thursday while the Spreckels Park defense imploded on the way to a 9-3 Northgate win for the championship of the District 67 Junior All-Star Tournament at Paul Weston Park. Northgate will now represent District 67 in the Sectional championships in Ione beginning Saturday, July 17.

This game bore little resemblance to the one-run thrilling win for Northgate that sent Spreckels Park to the consolation bracket earlier in the tournament.

“Spreckels gave us a run for our money the first time around but we came back knowing what we had to do and we did the job,” Northgate manager Chris Chavez said. This team came alive together.

“It was a battle. We had great pitching, great defense and the kids were hitting the ball and it was a great feeling.”

Northgate led 2-1 going into the fifth inning when it tallied five runs behind four Spreckels Park errors. Swinging the big bats for Northgate in that frame were Chris Chavez (2 for 3, double, RBI, two runs) and Davion Fagundes (double, two runs) with a double apiece, Anthony Oteri (2 for 4, three RBI) with a two-RBI single and Israel Leon with a sacrifice fly.

Anthony Oteri (3 for 4, two RBI, two runs) pitched into the seventh for Northgate, striking out six with five hits, walking two and he was charged with the three runs. However, he survived a four-hit third inning relatively unscathed, allowing just one run.

Richie Cervantez, Jacob Morrow, Cameron Diego and Ryan McIntyre strung together four consecutive hits for Spreckels Park in the fourth inning with McIntyre plating Cervantez (RBI, run).

Izrael Rosenblum led off the seventh for Spreckels Park with a triple and scored on a Cervantez groundout. Malikai Lopez walked after Rosenblum’s blast and came in on an error off the bat of Diego.