DES MOINES — The Oskaloosa Lightning 12U USSSA baseeball team ended the organization’s best season ever with a runner-up finish in the AAA State Championsps June 22-224.

It was the second time in three years the Lightning had made the championbship game. In 2011, they lost to eventual champion Waterloo heat in the quarterfinals.

The Lightning entered the season with some question marks, but molded into a very good team, winning 16 of their last 18 games.

In seven tournaments this year, they finished first three times and were runners-up twice.

The road to the finals this year had the Lightning dominating  the first four games before platying the most exciting game of the tournament, a 6-5 extra-inning thriller over Solon in the semifinals.

The Lightning started the tournament on Friday by cruising to a 9-1 win over the Southside rails from Desss Moines. K.J. McCrea led the hitting attack with three singles while Charlie Bandssstra, Rian Yates, Keaton DeKock and Alex Chapman all singled. Tucker Yates and Ninnikhoven pitched in the win.

Game two of pool play was against the Cedar Rapids Junior Warriors Red. The Lightning jumped out warly and controlled the game from the start, winning 8-2. By winning both pool games and allowing only three runs, Oskalosoa earned the No. 3 seed in the 38-team tournament. Yates had two singles while McCrea, Tanner DeKock, Jaden VanRoekel and Alex DeJong chipped in with base hits. Bandstra and McCrea pitched in the game.

The start of bracket play had Oskaloosa playing No. 14 Tide from Pleasant Hill. The Tide jumped on top 2-0 in the top of the first inning before Oskaloosa answered in the bottom half witth two runs of its own to even the score at 2. Pitching dominated before Oskaloosa scratched across two runs in the fourth and fifth to win 6-2. K. DeKock went 3-for-3 to lead the hitting attack. Nunnikhoven, T. DeKock, Bandstra, Yates and Jacob Kime all added singles. The win put Oskaloosa in the Elite 8 for the fourth consecutive year.

Game Four was a quarterfinal game against the Altoona Diamondbacks. Runs were hard to come by as Oskaloosa pulled out a 4-1 victory. T. DeKock had a triple and single in the win. McCrea and DeJong singled for Oskaloosa’s only other hits. Bandstra and McCrea pitched in the win. The win put the Lightning in a Sunday semifinal rematch from a game earlier this year against the Solon Bandits, an Eastern Iowa powerhouse. The Lightning run-ruled Solon in Iowa City earlier this year 11-3, but knew Sunday’s rematch would be much tougher.

The semifinal contest against Solon would prove to be the game of the entire tournament.

With a big crowd on hand both teams played excellent baseball in the see-saw affair. Oskaloosa greeted Solon’s ace with four runs in the first two innings to jump out on top 4-0. The defense would then step up when Rian Yates enticed a 6-4-3 double play with the bases loaded to bail out Oskaloosa in the third. Leading 4-1 Oskaloosa saw Solon put up 3 runs in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at 4.

Both teams went scoreless in the sixth to set up a dramatic extra-inning finish. Nunnikhoven led the inning off with a shot down the left-field line for a double. He then scored on T. DeKock’s fourth hit of the game. DeKock would later score to give Osky a 6-4 lead. Solon wasn’t done yet though.

After two quick outs, the Bandits doubled then had a single to make it 6-5 with the tying run at first. Nunnikhoven slammed the door and Oskaloosa was in the championship game for the second time in three years. T. DeKock led the hitting barrage with four hits. Yates had two singles and Nunnikhoven contributed a double. McCrea, Bandstra and Chapman rounded out the hitting with singles. Yates and Nunnikhoven pitched for the win.

Game six was for the championship and matched Oskaloosa against the Dubuque Express.

The Lightning was running short on pitching and Dubuque jumped out 7-0 in the fffirst inning. The never-say-die Lightning answered in the bottom half with four runs of their own. It would have been more if not for a diving catch by Dubuque on the right-field line for the final out with the bases loaded. Dubuque would continue to hit Oskaloosa pitching and bring home the championship 14-5.

“We tried our best to hang in there but just didn’t have the pitching. These youngsters battled to the bitter end and solidified their spot as one of Iowa’s top 12 year-old teams,” commented Manager Doug DeKock.

Oskaloosa had eight singles in the game by Nunnikhoven, T. DeKock, McCrea, Yates, K. DeKock, VanRoekel, Chapman and DeJong.

Oskaloosa ends its season with a record of 27-11.

“When you have kids that are as close and unselfish as these, good things happen. Our running game improved dramatically over the year because the kids would bunt and give themselves up on hit-and-run plays. Every at-bat had a purpose and we really started executing offensively toward the end of the year. Our motto has been ‘Last Ones to Leave’ and we did that five out of seven times this year. When you’re the last to leave that many times, it truly has been a great year,” DeKock said.