The 12u Lightning took the field for the first time in 2017 for the Battle Born tournament. After the originally scheduled 2017 opener was cancelled due to rain in Southern California, the boys came out guns blazing in this one and prepared to put a stomping on the competition. Opening the tournament with the 702 Warriors, the Lightning came out fired up for their first competitive game in 3 months, putting up a 5 run first inning en route to an 8-0 victory. Game two pinned them against the 11u Premier Futures from Texas, where the boys again put up an 8 run first inning, leading to a 13-0 win. After allowing 0 runs in pool play, the Lightning took the 2 seed into the playoff rounds.

The team took on the Pure Baseball Titans in the semifinals, taking the game 7-3 and putting them in the championship against eventual other semifinal winner, the Nevada Wildcats. 

The Wildcats semifinal game against the Scorpions went a whopping 10 innings (!!!) to find a winner, delaying the championship game from 2:00pm to almost 4:45pm. Additionally, the semifinal game for the Lightning had then enduring a 45 minute delay as they waited for the first quarterfinal game to finish. 

The 12u team learned a tremendously valuable lesson about how to handle delays as a baseball player - a lesson that is not typically learned until college. The team stayed relaxed, focused, and poised, a task that must be enormously acknowledged considering their age. After the 2 hour and 45 minute delay, the Lightning came out and won the championship by a score of 7-3, with the help of two long homeruns by Nico Rivera and Kody Bialas.

The mental strength and resiliency that this team showed from minute one of championship day is something that is expected from the greatest athletes at the college level. These 11 and 12 year old kids persevered and accomplished a tremendous feat because of what was pinned on them to take this championship. We are all beyond proud!

The team returns to action this coming weekend in the USSSA Super NIT in Phoenix, Arizona, where this team has showed some great success in the past (10u Champions and 11u Majors Silver Runner Ups). Best of luck and we know they will represent the organization in the best of ways.