Tribune Photo John Byrne - Spanish Springs pitcher Hunter Fralick eyes the plate during the first inning of his team's 10-0 win over Fallon Monday night.
Seven of Spanish Springs' players won the championship last year as 11-year-olds, also under coach Jeff McCusker.
"We're really excited," McCusker said.
The dozen 12-year-olds came back from an 8-7 loss against Fallon earlier in the week to win 17-9 Sunday. That was Fallon's first loss, so Spanish Springs had to turn the trick again to earn the right to be this year's champion.
Spanish Springs will play in the Southwest Regionals held in San Luis Obispo, Calif. next week.
Spanish Springs went on a scoring spree early in the game, earning two in the second and two in the third to open up the game.
In the top of the second, Anthony Tiscareno walked and Trevor Hampshire singled and both scored for the visiting Spanish Springs squad. Jeffrey McCusker and Hunter Fralick both singled in the third and also scored to extend the lead to 4-0.
Gehrig Parks led things off for Spanish Springs in the fifth inning against Fallon's pitcher Nic Stenberg. He made it to second on a throwing error. McCusker singled and made it to second on an error to put two runners in scoring position for the orange and white. Fralick stepped up and plated Parks with a single. This brought in a new pitcher for Fallon, Morgan Dirickson.
Kyle Bryce hit a shot up the third-base line and advanced to second on an error, allowing McCusker and Fralick to score. Spanish Springs scored three runs on three errors and one hit in the inning.
The squad was relentless, even on defense. In the bottom of the fifth, Fallon had the bases loaded with two outs, both strikeouts. And Fralick forced Fallon catcher Clay Amezquita to ground out, ending the inning.
Spanish Springs continued to bring the heat all the way to the final inning.
With a 7-0 lead, Parks sparked a two-out rally with a double up the third-base line and reached third on a wild pitch. He scored on another McCusker single. McCusker in turn scored on a double from Fralick, who crushed a ball into center field. Tiscareno ripped one to right field allowing Fralick to score the 10th and final run for Spanish Springs.
Fralick earned the final out of the game with a strikeout. He pitched all six innings and only allowed one walk.
Coach McCusker said the difference between Monday's game and the other was walks. In the first game, Spanish Springs walked four or five batters and hit two, he said.
Spanish Springs said they were pumped for regionals.
"We know we can compete," McCusker said. "We had some let downs last year."
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