The backstop at Signal Rock Field in North Kingstown is close to home plate, so close that scoring on a passed ball can be an iffy proposition.

But Brady Chant was still running.

It was the first inning of Sunday’s winners’ bracket game in the District 3 tournament. With Chant on third, a pitch got away and he immediately broke for home. When he slid in safely, he gave the Warwick National 12-year-old all-stars a 1-0 lead.

He also set the tone.

“We were aggressive in the box and we were aggressive on the bases,” said manager Pete Palermo. “We put a lot of pressure on them right off the bat.”

They never let up.

National added two more runs in the first and blew the game open with seven in the second en route to a 12-2 mercy-rule victory. With the win, the National stars moved into the winners’ bracket semifinals, where they’ll visit Central Coventry on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

The win continued a hot start for National, which won its opener over Wickford on a walk-off home run by Chris Ray.

“The kids played very well tonight,” Palermo said. “That’s two in a row now. We’ve got a good group here. They’re hard-working. They’re serious about the game, and they enjoy it. It’s working out well.”

After the win over Wickford last Monday, the National stars figured to take some momentum into their next game.

But they needed the game to happen.

Originally scheduled for Wednesday, the game against North Kingstown was pushed to Thursday because of rain, then postponed again, along with the rest of the games in the district. Because of the holiday, the Thursday postponement moved the game to Sunday.

“I was hoping we wouldn’t get rusty, because we had some nice momentum going,” Palermo said. “We practiced a little bit, and kept it light and fun. It seemed like it worked.”

It certainly did.

Chant got the start on the mound for National and worked around a bit of trouble to put up a scoreless first inning. He was aided by solid infield defense.

Leading off the bottom of the inning, Chant drew a walk, and Matt Creamer followed with a line drive double to the gap in right-center field. Chant stopped at third, but when the first pitch of the next at-bat got past catcher Jared Tomelli, he made his aggressive break for home and slid in ahead of the tag from pitcher Christian Habershaw.

After the passed ball, Ray drew a walk and moved to second on a wild pitch. With two in scoring position, Zach Brehmer looped a single into right. Creamer and Ray scampered home to make it 3-0.

North Kingstown answered in the top of the second thanks to an RBI single by Keil Fuller, but National got its offense in gear again in the bottom half.

With one out, Elizabeth Iadevaia fought back from an 0-2 count and laced a single down the left-field line. After Iadevaia stole second, Chant drove her in with a base hit to right, making it 4-1. Creamer was inches away from making it 6-1 but his deep fly ball got caught by Greg Sherman just in front of the center field fence.

But that out did nothing to quell the rally. Ray got hit by a pitch, before Brian Scofield ripped a double down the left-field line, scoring two for the 6-1 lead. Scofield moved all the way to third when the throw home got away, and he scored on a base hit by Bryant Palermo.

Palermo ended up taking second on a throwing error, and he moved to third on a passed ball. Brehmer then walked, setting up a first-and-third situation. National tried a double steal, and though the throw to second was cut off in front of the bag, Palermo still beat the throw home, making it an 8-1 game. Ian Kent followed with an RBI single to score Brehmer and Mike McCaffrey delivered an RBI double. When the dust settled, National had put up seven runs on six hits.

“I like the way this team hits,” Peter Palermo said. “I wasn’t sure what to expect coming into the summer, because in all-stars, you never know. The level changes tremendously. But we have a lot of good hitters. So far, they’ve jelled nicely. I’ve been very happy with our offense.”

National added another run in the third when Chant doubled and scored on a base hit by Ray. North Kingstown reliever Christian Haupf worked out of a bases-loaded jam later in the inning and stranded another runner on third in the fourth.

But thankfully for National, those runs weren’t really necessary. Chant allowed a home run in the third, but struck out two to get out of the inning. From that point on, he induced ground balls whenever he needed them, with Creamer, Scofield and Iadevaia gobbling them up. Iadevaia made a key play at second in the fifth when she ranged to her left, scooped a ground ball and fired a perfect throw to second to get the out. Outfield defense was also strong, with Andrew Craven making a nice catch. All of it helped Chant pitch a solid game.

“Brady did a great job,” Palermo said. “Our pitching has been very good so far, which is always where it starts.”

Chant reached the pitch-count limit in the fifth. Brehmer came on in relief with two runners on but struck out the first batter he faced and got a ground ball to end the inning.

“Zach throws very hard, and he had a nice year in our house league,” Palermo said. “He’s been dying to get on the mound, and it looked it right there.”

With a nine-run lead, National needed just one more run to invoke the mercy rule. Ray took care of it. On the first pitch of the fifth inning, he hit a towering home run to left. Though it wasn’t as dramatic as his walk-off home run on Monday, it was a walk-off nonetheless.

Ray ended up going 2-for-2 with three runs scored and two RBI, leading an attack that put up 13 hits, with at least one from every spot in the lineup. Chant went 2-for-3 with three runs and an RBI, Creamer went 2-for-4 with a run scored, Palermo went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run, and Brehmer went 1-for-2 with two RBI. Kent and McCaffrey each had a hit and an RBI. Iadevaia and Tommy Galligan were also on base.

All in all, the performance was exactly what National was looking for, especially with this team. In the 10- and 11-year-old tournaments, this group didn’t get off to fast starts. Right now, they’re flying.

“With this group, we’ve had trouble getting a good start,” Palermo said. “Once you get that negative tone going, it’s hard to break out of that. My goal for the year was to get off to a positive start, and I think we’ve done that.”