The 11-year-old All-Stars got the day going on the right foot for those hosts as they battled their way through some defensive miscues and took down Silver State 12-9 to win the state championship and qualify for the regional tournament later this month in Taylorsville, Utah.
"It's awesome. Our goal was to get to Utah and to do it on winning pitcher Derek Stuber's birthday was nice," manager Travis Lee said. "I don't know (about our chances). It depends on the competition, but I know we'll give a fight. Not to take anything away from the other team, but we beat ourselves a little bit with some errors. Cole Drescher played a hell of a game. He almost dropped two bombs."
Drescher had a stellar day at the plate, going 3-for-4 with four runs batted in. He had a pair of doubles that drove in three runs and an RBI single to lead the team.
The Spanish Springs 12-year-olds made it 2-for-2 for local teams to start out the day.
Spanish Springs broke open a close game with a five-run fifth inning and swept past Fallon 13-6.
Spanish Springs batted around the order in the fifth. With one out, Quin Pferschy singled to left and came home from second when Noah Parks sprayed a line drive to right field, making it a 9-6 ballgame.
Following a Parker Kittilsen walk, Brandon Koszuth helped his cause by doubling down the right-field line, allowing Parks to score. Koszuth went the distance on the mound for the win.
Kittilsen scored when Fallon's center fielder could not make the play on Duncan Wilmot's flyball.
Jake Brennan's sacrifice fly increased the lead to 12-6, and Josh Prizina capped the rally with an RBI single that found the gap in right-center field.
Spanish Springs struggled to pull away early on, despite the game starting off very well for it.
Fallon starting pitcher Nolan Rysk was lifted from the game after walking Pferschy and Parks to start the first. Koszuth singled in Pferschy for the first of his three RBIs and Parks came plateward during a double play for the initial 2-0 edge.
Fallon cut the deficit in half when it loaded the bases with back-to-back hard singles by Johnny Mayo and Sage Orozco and a walk by Trae Workman. Koszuth then walked Kyle Larsen, forcing in a run.
Fallon got in trouble again in the top of the second and again it was Pferschy and Parks causing problems.
Pferschy drove in two runs with a hard shot to center field for a single, and Parks bounced a ground-rule double over the fence to let Pferschy trot home for a 5-1 lead.
Fallon turned to Orozco to finish out the inning on the bump, and he only allowed his inherited runner to score on Kittilsen's groundout.
However, Fallon battled right back, scoring four runs of its own in the second and closing the gap to 6-5. Workman's two-run single up the middle was the big hit in the rally.
But that was as good as it got for the team in green.
Spanish Springs added two more runs in the fourth frame, while Fallon could only muster up one.
Spanish Springs will now head to Long Beach, Calif. for the regional tournament.
The 9- and 10-year-olds were in action Sunday as well, but both teams made it hard on themselves.
However, the 10-year-olds survived a loss in the first game of the tournament and won three straight, including two in the championship series over Fallon, 6-3 and 12-2 to take the state crown.
The "if" game was never in doubt. Spanish Springs jumped out to a 5-0 lead after one inning. Tanner Smith, Chris Samir and Vince Fillipone had RBIs in the inning.
In the second inning, Coltan Forman hit a rocket shot past the second baseman to drive in a run and pad the cushion to 6-0.
Fallon finally erased the goose egg with two in the top of the fourth, but Spanish Springs stormed back with six in the bottom half of the inning to end the game thanks to the 10-run mercy rule.
CJ Hires drove in two runs with a single to shallow center field in the fourth. Four batters later, Hayden Bosco ended it by knocking home two runs with a bases loaded single up the middle. Spanish Springs did not have an out in the inning.
"We have a great bunch of kids. They battled all the way, never gave up ever," manager Wayne Smith said. "It kind of shows their character coming back like that, being down in the first game and coming back to win three in a row. I'm proud of them."
The 10-year-olds get to travel to Elk Grove, Calif. for the regional tourney in the final week of July.
Unfortunately for the 9-year-olds, Sunday did not end with them receiving the state championship trophy.
Spanish Springs, which had stayed in the winners' bracket, just had to beat Fallon once Sunday to also go to Elk Grove. But Spanish Springs just ran out of gas, losing 13-3 in five innings and 7-6 in the "if" game.
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