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2013 Baseball Youth National 12u Champions!

By Chad Jenkins, 07/03/13, 3:30PM EDT

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In the past week the 12U Cobras competed in the Baseball Youth Nationals in Elizabethtown, KY. Pool play started on Saturday June 22nd. The Cobras went 5-0 in pool play beating teams from Illinois, Tennessee, Texas, Florida and Michigan. In pool play they outscored their opponents 39-6 to earn the 3 seed for bracket play.

Bracket play was when things got crazy for the Cobras. In the quarterfinals they had to face the Peachtree Bats out of Atlanta, GA. Both teams battled throughout the game to overcome great pitching. The Cobras had to overcome a 2 run deficit to win the game on a walk off base-hit from Anthony Welsh to put them into the semi finals against the Gunners from South Texas.

In the semifinals the Gunners jumped out to a 3 run lead in the 1st inning when a Gunner hit a 3 Run HR. The Cobras battled back as the visiting team to hold a 7-6 lead in the top of the 6th. In the 6th with 2 outs Drew Salinas reached base on an error to give the Cobras a much needed base runner to try and get insurance runs. The next batter Ryan Callahan made the team from Texas pay for that error as he hit a 2 Run HR to extend the Cobras lead to 9-6. The final ended up being 9-7 so the insurance runs were HUGE.

The Championship game was held later in the night when the Cobras met up with the host team the Baseball Youth Elite from Kentucky. Once again the Cobras had to battle back from a 2 run deficit. With the Cobras being the visiting team, going into the top of the 2nd inning and the Kentucky team's "ACE" on the mound the Cobras answered the 2 run deficit by exploding for 6 runs. 4 of the runs coming with 2 outs as Nick Kendig, Nick Salyer, Cameron Jenkins, Zack Mon each had 2 out RBI hits to cap the inning. After taking the lead a tired Nick Salyer pitched with HEART for the next 3 innings and left the game with a 7-4 lead. Ryan Callahan then came in to shut the door to earn a 2 inning save and kick start a celebration to be remembered forever for this group of 12 year olds.