Ottawa wins third consecutive State title

Ottawa's Connor Stepp slides in to score a run during the fourth inning of play against Wellington in the championship game of the Kansas Cal Ripken 12-Year-Old State Tournament Monday afternoon at Don Hewett Field. Stepp had two hits and scored twice for Ottawa in its 13-4 victory, which gave this group its third state title in as many years. (Kenny Felt/Captured Images)

The Ottawa All-Stars defeated the Wellington Braves, 13-4, Monday afternoon in the championship game of the Kansas Cal Ripken Baseball 12-Year-Old State Tournament at Don Hewett Field.

The All-Stars, who came through the winner's bracket, are three-time champions having won State titles as 10-year-olds and 11-year-olds. They'll go to Grand Island, Neb., this weekend to play in the Regional Tournament.

Wellington just simply ran out of pitching, having played two extra games as they came through the losers' bracket. The Braves lost the first game of the tournament Friday, then won four straight over the next two days to reach the finals.

Fort Scott's team was eliminated Saturday. Their games are summarized in the story below.

Wellington's pitching problems helped Ottawa, certainly, but the All-Stars also helped themselves with timely hitting and aggressive baserunning. Ottawa stole 15 bases in the game.

The first inning went scoreless. Ottawa used three hits to put up a pair of runs in the second inning. It could have been more as they had the bases loaded with nobody out before Wellington pitcher Jaden Hines got a pair of strikeouts and induced a fly ball to center.

Wellington scored three in the top of the third to go up 3-2. Two runs came in on Austin Dunn's two-RBI double off the left-center field fence.

Ottawa regained the lead in the bottom of the inning when Alex Stepp delivered a two-run single. Three more runs went up for the All-Stars in the fourth with the aid of two Braves errors, making it a 7-3 game.

Wellington added one in the top of the fifth as Dutch Brownlee's double drove home Trevor Nance. But three errors in the bottom of the inning led to some of Ottawa's six runs.

Tyler Smith pitched the first five innings for Ottawa, allowing four runs on seven hits. He didn't walk anybody and struck out eight. A two-for-three, two-RBI day at the plate helped him land his team's Most Valuable Player honor for the game.

Sam Carver was two for three for Ottawa. Alex Stepp went two for four with three RBI and Connor Stepp was two for four while also picking up the WOW Award.

For Wellington, Brownlee was three for three, earning the MVP Award. Nance was two for three. Connor Church received the WOW Award.

Awards were handed out after the game. Carver, Smith and Tate Jung were named to the All-Tournament Team for Ottawa while Dunn, Hines and Colin Reichenberger were picked from Wellington. Also named were Fort Scott's Mason Knopp, Lyons' Kyler Cox, Winfield's Mike Kent and Gideon Bloyer and Cimarron River's Lorenzo Pando and Diego Zuvala.

Fort Scott's Adam Deloney received the individual sportsmanship award while Cimarron River was the recipient of the team award. Reichenberger won the individual Attitude Award while Smith won the individual Hustle Award.

Assistant Babe Ruth State Commissioner David Brandon was on hand to give Dunn the AH2P Award, given to the player who best exemplifies the award's attributes: Attitude, Hustle, Hustle and Pride.