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FORT MYERS — Just when it looked like South Fort Myers owned all the drama, Vinny Barraco decided to produce some of his own.

Barraco's clean single through the left side brought home Jason Brandon from third base with the winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning as Fort Myers American captured the District 9 Little League title with a 6-5 win against South Fort Myers on Saturday at Sam Fleishman Regional Sports Complex.

"I just got up there and told myself that I have to hit this ball and try as hard as I can and lead our team to Sectionals," said Barraco, whose 11-12 year-old team, which is 6-0, earned a bid in the Section 6 tournament that starts Friday night at Three Oaks Park in San Carlos Park.

Barraco's clutch hit with no outs eclipsed South's dramatic comeback in the top of the inning. Trailing 5-3 and down to their last two outs, South knotted the game on Cal Duncan's two-run homer to right field.

It was the third round-tripper in the game. The first two belonged to Fort Myers.

Winning pitcher Thomas Runyon erased a 2-0 deficit with a three-run home run to the opposite field in the third off South starter Sammy Weiss.

After South knotted the score at 3-3 on a Cade Bray single in the fifth, Gunnar Joslin regained the lead for Fort Myers with a two-run blast.

Coming out of the losers bracket, South needed to beat their rival twice. Instead, South was dealt a setback that ended its all-star season.

Duncan (3 RBIs), Colin McCluskey and Cade Bray accounted for South's six hits with two apiece.

Joslin and Evan Dougherty paced Fort Myers' eight-hit attack with two each.

"I think we are a little bit better hitting team than them, but they came up with the pop today," said South manager Chip Duncan.

Runyon notched strikeouts in each inning. He finished with a dozen before he was relieved with one out in the sixth.

"He held us down. Only one other pitcher held us down this entire all-stars," said Duncan.

Saturday's nail-biter wasn't the first between the clubs. In fact, Fort Myers used the same 6-5 score to send South into the losers bracket last weekend. Close games involving most of the players on both sides date back a few years.

"We've battled with them for four years. It's a lot of fun. It's always a one-run game," said Fort Myers manager Eric Joslin. "We were just able to get that extra run today."