Kings pull away from Cardinals for Spring Klein 12U fall championship
The Tomball Kings 12U team slipped past a resilient, Spring Klein Cardinals squad to win the Fall 2023 12U title today in the Spring Klein Baseball League.
The Kings had jumped out to a 10-1 lead after two innings, but the Cardinals roared back to close the gap to 10-8 in the top of the fourth inning.
The Kings answered the challenge with four runs in their half of the frame, however. The six-run differential would have been too much for the Cardinals to overcome within the game's time limit, enabling the Kings to prevail by run rule.
After starting the fall season in an 0-2 hole, the Kings surged to a 7-0-1 record in their final eight games of the regular season, qualifying for the second seed in the end-of-season tournament. They topped the Astros 6-5 in this morning's semifinal to qualify for the championship game. The fourth-seeded Cardinals had upset the league-leading Red Sox 10-4 in the first semifinal of the day to clinch their ride to the championship game.
Coach Daniel Lara led this fall's 12U squad, assisted by David Gober, Bob Phillips, Wessel Watt, and Tom Yost.
The 2023 Fall roster for the 12U Kings consists of:
- Finn Chancellor
- Finn Fisher
- Brooks Flowers
- Landry Gober
- Tanner Hause
- Luke Holasek
- Ryan Lara
- Liam Najvar
- Warren Phillips
- Caleb Strassner
- Owen Strassner
- Elijah Watt
- Arden Yost
With their two wins in the playoffs, the Kings finished 9-2-1 on the season.
Up next for the Kings 12U program are tryouts for the 2024 spring season, where they will again compete in the Spring Klein League. The 12U Kings have won the league title for the past two spring seasons and will be vying for a third-consecutive, spring championship.
