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Don Retallick wasn't even around to see his 11- and 12-year-old Golden Gate All-Star softball team beat the Naples Queens in the District 27 tournament for the first time ever.

That doesn't make a difference to him, though.

Golden Gate received a strong effort from the top of its order to come out on top of the traditionally favored Naples squad 12-9 on Thursday morning at Cambier Park with assistant coach Paul Jukins at the helm and his players acting as base coaches.

"It was awesome that we won and we have 12 of the best girls out there," he said. "Without them or the parents we would have never done this good and it's especially nice to win after our 9- and 10-year-olds won the night before."

Golden Gate moves on to the sectional tournament held at Sam Fleishman Park in Fort Myers on Saturday, where it will play two games, the first at 12:30 p.m. and again at 3 p.m.

On Tuesday night when Golden Gate won the first of the best-of-three championship series, the game was abruptly interrupted by the rain and lightning that has plagued tournaments at Cambier Park all week. After a long break, Retallick had made a coaching error and not played all his players by the end of the game once it had resumed.

Little League rules state that each player must play in every game, and after having the case called in to Little League headquarters in Williamsport, Pa., for review, it was ruled Golden Gate could keep the win, but Retallick was not to be at the following game and was not allowed contact with anyone who was in attendance.

Still, his players managed to put together a solid performance, effectively sealing the win in the fifth inning when Golden Gate pitcher Brianna Newland retired three straight Naples batters on pop-outs after striking out eight others throughout the course of the game.

Jukins is quick to point out that Newland was the beneficiary of a great offense as well.

"The biggest factor in the game was our offense even though our pitcher struck out eight," he said. "Naples hit the ball really well. That is why the score was so high, but we had girls going 3-for-4, 3-for-3 at the plate and Marina Shadley had five RBIs. Our one, three and four batters were outstanding."