Warwick American, Warwick Continental and Warwick National are three of the last four teams standing in the District 3 10-year-old tournament. While National is in the losers bracket, American and Continental are the last two undefeated teams, and they’ll meet tonight at Continental in the winners’ bracket final. The winner will move on to the district championship, while the loser has a date with National or Coventry in the losers’ bracket final.

American got to this point thanks to a 4-3 victory over Chariho on Thursday and an 11-8 win over Warwick National on Saturday.

The first of those games was a rematch of a pool-play game, which American won by a wide margin. This time, Chariho came to play and loaded the bases in each of the first three innings. Solid defense from American kept Chariho from taking full advantage. With the bases loaded in the third and one runner already thrown out at home, Noah Cost fielded a hard grounder and came home with it. Catcher Jaime Armstrong got the out at home then fired to first for a double play.

In the fourth inning David DeFusco made two huge plays in center field, throwing out a runner at home and then holding a runner at third.

The strong defense set the stage for American’s bats, and they came through. Griffen Leonard hit a solo home run in the first and delivered an RBI single in the third. In the fourth, American took the lead on key hits from Alex Andrade and Cost. Sam LaFrance drove in the eventual game-winning runs with a blast to the outfield. American was able to hold onto the lead with some fine defense and a key pitching performance by Daniel Pratt.

American continued its run on Saturday when it hosted Warwick National. The visitors came in swinging, getting a two-run homer in the top of the first. But American responded when Jarrod Houle hit a grand slam to make it 4-2.

There was a lot more offense the rest of the way, but American never gave up its lead. LaFrance hit a grand slam for his first Little League home run and Leonard homered and hit a double. Houle, LaFrance and Leonard drove in all of American’s runs.

Defensively, American made some key plays, while Ryan Stiles improved to 3-0 on the mound and Noah Cost got his fourth save.

The loss dropped National to the losers’ bracket, where they were scheduled to host Coventry on Wednesday.

Continental stayed alive in the winners’ bracket with an 11-10 victory over Coventry in the semis.

After Thursday’s winners’ bracket final, the losers’ bracket final will be held on Saturday. The district championship is scheduled for Tuesday, with an if-game slated for Wednesday.