In Warwick American’s District 3 tournament push, quite a bit has gone right over the last week.

On Sunday, in an elimination game against South Kingstown National, it went wrong right from the first batter.

After winning three games in a row to emerge as one of the final six teams standing in the district, American lost 12-1 to South Kingstown in a mercy-rule, four-inning game to close the book on its tournament. Starter Tyler Parks threw 48 pitches and gave up three runs in a marathon first inning, and it only got worse from there.

Through two innings, South Kingstown led 8-1 and American was down for the count.

“It was a tough one,” said American manager Mike Cook. “It’s too bad, because we’re better than that. I can’t say enough about the coaches and the players. Everybody worked real hard. They played hard. It’s just tough when you’re in a hole like that.”

Parks, American’s hardest thrower, nearly limited the damage in both the first and second innings, but he struggled to get the final out both times.

In the first, he walked Sam Craven and gave up back to back singles to Jared Walker and Kevin Kanaczct to make it 1-0. After consecutive strikeouts and a walk, he gave up a two-strike bloop single to right field to Shane Jedson, making it 3-0.

“I was very pleased with their approach,” said South Kingstown manager Josh Rosen. “We’ve been working on that for the whole tournament. Obviously the kid that they threw was definitely a top-of-the-line pitcher. It was good to see the approach.”

American grabbed a run back in the top of the second inning, but it still felt like a missed opportunity to really get back in the game. Walker, the South Kingstown starter, walked two men with one out, and then loaded the bases with two outs on another walk.

Jake Randall came up with a hit for American to score a run, but Walker got a groundout from the next man to strand three runners and keep his team in front.

“To get out of that inning giving up only one run, I thought he did a great job,” Rosen said.

In the bottom of the second, South Kingstown didn’t miss its chance for some breathing room. Three hits and a walk brought in one run, but Parks also retired two batters to put himself one out away from keeping it a 4-1 game.

Instead, Jedson smashed a 1-0 pitch over the center field wall for a back-breaking grand slam to up South Kingstown’s lead to 8-1. That was the end of the day for Parks, who was replaced by Connor Fallon on the mound.

“We couldn’t get that third out,” Cook said.

South Kingstown added three more runs in the third inning, two of which came on a home run by Kanaczct. Needing two runs to stay alive and avoid the 10-run rule, American struck out five times in the final two innings to Walker, ending the game.

“They have nothing to hang their heads about,” Cook said. “They played tough. That’s baseball.”

While Sunday’s game wasn’t much of a highlight for American, there were plenty of highlights during the tournament, including Wednesday’s win over North Kingstown, as American stayed alive with a dramatic, walk-off victory.

Trailing 6-5 entering the bottom of the sixth inning, American got a one-out walk from Will Walaska, who then moved to second on a wild pitch. Randall followed with a base hit to plate Walaska with the tying run. Later in the inning, North Kingstown cut down the potential winning run when Randall was thrown out at home on an attempted double steal. But Jacob Paul – who stole second on the same play – took third on a wild pitch, and Cameron Armenti sent him home with a chopper to shortstop that North Kingstown couldn’t handle.

North Kingstown starting pitcher Clay Brochu struck out 11 in 4.1 innings, but American managed to touch him up for four runs then added another on Sothea Ang-Minn’s solo home run in the fifth, which tied the game at 5-5. North Kingstown scored one in the top of the sixth before American’s rally.

Ang-Minn led the offense with a double, a home run, two runs scored and two RBI. Randall added two hits and an RBI. Walaska, Paul and Armenti also had hits.

Randall went 5.2 innings on the mound before hitting his pitch count limit. Fallon relieved him and was greeted by a single that plated the go-ahead run, but he retired the next batter to keep the score there and set the stage for American’s rally.

Overall, American went 3-2 in the tournament and was the last Warwick team standing, out-lasting Continental, National and West Side.

“They had a real good run, a winning record and we were the last team standing in Warwick,” Cook said. “Nothing to be ashamed about. We lost our first one and won three in a row. That’s tough, that’s hard to do.”

South Kingstown advanced to the loser’s bracket semifinals, where it will take on Wickford today at 8 p.m.