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SAN CARLOS PARK — The boys from the Fort Myers American team that won the 10-11 Section 6 championship last year are the Little League Section 6 champions this year, with a little help from the Dominican Republic.

Issy Brito, 12, scored four runs in American's decisive 17-6 win against the San Carlos Park Little League all-stars at Three Oaks Community Park on Saturday, adding a home run in the third inning and a three-run homer in the fifth inning.

When Brito took the mound midway through the third inning, San Carlos Park batter Brett Schumbacker turned toward the buzzing crowd with wide, scared eyes. Brito threw hard, and he was a foot taller than most of the players on San Carlos Park's team. Each of the past four years, though, Brito has missed all of postseason baseball in Florida to visit his mom in the Dominican Republic.

"It took me four years to talk (Issy's dad) into letting him stay," American coach Eric Joslin said after the game. "He's a pretty big addition."

Literally and figuratively.

Fort Myers American went 3-0 in the Section 6 round-robin tournament and is 9-0 so far in postseason play going into next weekend's state tournament in East Boynton Beach. Sarasota Florida finished second in the round-robin with a 2-1 record, San Carlos Park was third at 1-2, and Greater Naples finished fourth at 0-3.

Besides Brito, American also added leadoff hitter Evan Dougherty to its postseason lineup this year. The remaining 10 players on the team were all part of last season's 10-11 year-old Section 6 champs.

That team went 1-2 at state, but Joslin is hoping for a better finish this season with two more big guns in the lineup.

American's entire lineup got on base against San Carlos Park. Seven of nine players had hits, and the team's two-and-a-half hour all-defense practices appeared to help in the field. American had zero fielding errors compared to four for San Carlos Park.

Still, San Carlos Park refused to die in its first section tournament appearance, despite trailing 5-0 after two innings.

"Last year we didn't even make it out of the district, so this (tournament) was pretty exciting for us," coach Nick Nataro said. "We just sort of ran out of gas this afternoon."

San Carlos Park used up all three of its usual pitchers in Saturday morning's 8-4 win against Greater Naples, forcing a few inexperienced pitchers to throw to Fort Myers American's big bats.

"We had to throw everything we had at (Greater) Naples," Nataro said. "They've kind of been the team to beat around here for lots of years, but we think we're up there now, too."

San Carlos shortstop Jason Moore went 3-of-4 against American, adding a run, and Alex Merrill and Caleb Chapman had two hits apiece.

SARASOTA 7, GREATER NAPLES 3: Sarasota Florida beat Greater Naples Little League all-stars 7-3 on Saturday afternoon, securing second place.

Greater Naples tied the game at 3 midway through the second inning, but Sarasota scored two more in the bottom of the second and added another two runs in the bottom of the fifth, while Greater Naples didn't manage a hit in the rest of the game.

Jordan Jackson had two hits, including a double, for Greater Naples, annd Connor Riley, Drew Tomaini and Austin Baker also added two hits apiece.

SAN CARLOS PARK 8, GREATER NAPLES 4: San Carlos Park beat Greater Naples 8-4 on Saturday morning behind second-inning home runs from Moore and pitcher Alex Merrill.

The two home runs helped San Carlos Park to a 6-0 lead after two innings, and Greater Naples was never able to recover.

Seth Myers added a triple for San Carlos Park, and Merrill closed out the first inning with three-straight strikeouts.

Ian Williams had a double and a single for Greater Naples, and Blake Werab had two singles.

FORT MYERS AMERICAN 5, SARASOTA FLORIDA 1: Sarasota Florida gave Fort Myers American a tough test on Saturday morning, but Sarasota's bats were never able to get going against American's pitching from Evan Dougherty.

Dougherty started the game with two-straight strikeouts and finished with eight.

Thomas Runyon and Jason Brandon each homered for Fort Myers.

Chad Miller scored Sarasota's only run.