The Novato North Little League majors team strung together three big innings to open its section playoff run with an 11-4 win against Vacaville American at Joe Wagner Field in Larkspur Saturday.

Enzo Martinelli had two hits and drove in three runs for Novato North, which stays in the winners’ bracket and faces Lafayette at 11 a.m. Sunday. The winner of that game moves into the title game which is set for Tuesday.

Ian Bowman also had two hits and drove in a run for Novato North, which scored three runs in the first and five more in the third to jump out to an 8-1 lead. Vacaville American scored three in the bottom of the third but Novato North pulled away with three more runs in the fifth.

Gabe Oliveros had two hits for Novato North. Cyrus Bentaleb, Brody VonBehren, Aidan Capurro and Kingston Jepma also had RBIs.

• The Novato North 11s tumbled into the elimination bracket following a 13-4 loss to Alameda in Woodland on Saturday. Ryder Vierebome had a team-high three hits for Novato North, which plays Petaluma National at 7 p.m. on Sunday. Tiernan Sheedy and Steven Berringer had two hits each for Novato North. Brock Lustenberger had two RBIs.

• The Twin Cities 9-10s team raced out to a big lead Saturday but was unable to hold it, falling 8-7 against Rincon Valley in American Canyon. Twin Cities built a 7-1 lead in the second inning but Rincon Valley scored twice in the third, four times in the fourth, and pushed over the winning run in the fifth. Twin Cities moves into the elimination bracket against Benicia at 12:30 p.m. Sunday. Twin Cities began play in the bracket with a 9-1 win against Benicia on Thursday. Beau Leibick had two RBIs to pace Twin Cities. Hunter Coghlan, Ted Bedecarre, Oliver Drullinger, Zeke Reiter, and Archie O’Neill also drove in runs.

Pro baseball

Blake Diggle’s two-run double powered a ninth-inning rally that pushed the San Rafael Pacifics past the Vallejo Seaweed, 7-6, on Friday night at Albert Park. The teams are scheduled to play again Sunday at 1 p.m. in Vallejo.

The Pacifics were trailing 6-2 entering the bottom of the ninth. With the bases loaded and two outs, Diggle hit his eighth double of the season. Jorge Rios followed with a two-run single to nail down the win.

Rios pitched the final two innings, allowing one hit, to earn the win. Former College of Marin pitching coach Alex Valasek got the start and threw seven innings, striking out seven batters and allowing four earned runs on seven hits.

Golf

Mill Valley’s Eric Hill tied for fifth place at 1-under 71 during a NCGA net tournament at Baylands Golf Links in Palo Alto on Saturday. Larkspur’s Glen Regier tied for 24th at 3-over, just ahead of Matthew Regier, who finished at 4-over, tied for 30th.

Water polo

San Anselmo’s Dylan Woodhead scored a goal in Team USA’s 18-9 victory over Canada during Friday’s opener of the World Aquatics World Championships in Singapore. The Americans are scheduled to play Brazil on Sunday at 6 p.m. The game will be streamed live on Peacock.

Meanwhile, Ella Woodhead’s U.S. Women’s National Team beat China, 15-7, on Thursday in their opener of the World Aquatics World Championships in Singapore. Team USA is scheduled to face the Netherlands on Sunday at 5:45 a.m.