Brothers, sister rivalry on line along with San Francisco Section baseball title at Oracle Park

SAN FRANCISCO — Brothers or sisters playing on opposite sides in high school games happen occasionally. 

But brothers against a sister? For a section championship? On a Major League diamond? 

That's rarified air. 

Any other place than Orace Park, that is. 

For the second straight season, junior twins Isabella Fong and Roman Fong will face off for the San Francisco Section baseball championship where the San Francisco Giants call home. 

A new twist is their freshman brother Reggie, a starting second baseman for Lowell, enters the sibling rivalry. 

The 2023 title game is slated for 4 p.m. on Thursday and once again Lowell (14-10) is the heavy favorite, having beaten the Eagles twice just last week, 13-3 and 9-3. 

Isabella is a second baseman and pitcher for Washington, which ended Lowell's seven-year stranglehold on championships last season with a 6-1 victory. Lowell had defeated Washington twice earlier in the season last year as well. 

Her twin Roman was a starting third basemen for Lowell, which has dominated the Academic Athletic Association — the lone league of the SFS — for about a decade. 

But last year, Washington prevailed to win its 12th section crown and first since 2012. Lowell has won 21 SFS titles, 17 of them since 1995. 

Afterward, Isabella, who didn't play in the game, and Roman posed for pictures and ultimately embraced right on home plate. Roman had to eat crow afterward, but he did so with class, reflecting on the big picture in front of a huge backdrop of an MLB stadium.

“You know what, it’s awesome (she won),” Roman said that day. “But it’s always awesome that she’s a girl playing baseball. Everyone is always like, ‘She plays baseball? Not softball. No, it’s baseball.

“And now she’s on the varsity team. And she won a championship. It’s a proud moment for my family and I. It feels bad to be on the losing side, but I’m super proud of her.” 

Both were humbled just to play a game at Oracle, a place they ran bases one Sunday as part of the Junior Giants program. They were just 7. 

"To be here (now) with my brother," she said after the 2022 game. "It's so cool we got to finally face each other — and of all places, here." 

The twins were split up due largely to a complex merit-based entrance system into the San Francisco Unified School District, which has since been changed to a lottery system. 

"I was bummed (by the split) because we'd gone to the same school for our whole lives," Roman said. "I knew it was going to be tough since we'd always had each other to rely on and talk to during the day."

Isabella figures to play and even pitch in Thursday's title game. She is 1-0 with a 2.76 ERA in seven appearances and 25.1 innings. She’s struck out 19, walked 11 and given up 33 hits. She’s also 3 for 19 at the plate with six runs and an RBI.

After last year’s game, Washington coach Thomas Mora promised that Isabella would pitch against her brother if they met again this season. 

“We have to get back here first,” he said at the time. He also called Isabella "very solid, fundamentally great, extremely coachable and one hell of a baseball player."

Their father Roger Fong graduated from Lowell in 1990 but his siblings attended Washington, as did his dad Joe. 

Rooting interests within the family will be mixed. 

In the 2022 game, their mom Pia, who attended private school in San Francisco, sat directly behind home plate, Joe sat in Washington's section and Roger, sporting a specially designed cap with both mascots, sat just left of center with the largely Lowell backers. 

“They are both way better than I ever was,” Roger said at the time.

And the youngest Fong might be better than all of them. 

Reggie Fong is hitting .365 with 23 hits, 29 runs and 17 stolen bases. He drove in four runs with a pair of hits in a 13-2 semifinal win over Galileo on Monday.  

His older brother Roman is having another big season as the team's second leading hitter at .415 with three doubles and three triples. 

Roman is also one of Lowell's top pitcher at 4-3 with a 3.50 ERA. Fellow junior Finean Hunter-Kenney (4-3, 2.70) and senior Gabriel Leung (4-2, 2.53) have been the main pitchers for the Cardinals all season. 

All pitched Monday so all may go at it Thursday with pitch counts low on all. 

Washington (9-13) is led by senior catcher Joaquin Ruiz, who leads the team in average (.456), hits (26) and RBI (24). 

“We hope we learned from last year’s loss,” Lowell longtime assistant coach Romeo Aurelio said. “It was the first time in about a decade our players had to watch another put those first-place medals around their necks. I know our players are going to do everything possible not to let that happen again.

“(Lowell versus Washington) is a fitting way to end the season. Taking nothing away from the other great teams in the league, but going back 25-30 years, when you think about the city baseball championship, you automatically think of Lowell and Washington.” 

And, as of late, the Fong family legacy. 

Look for coverage of Thursday's game and the Fong family update Thursday night