Playing without injured Nathan Hedges against a Kellogg Welding team that had a handful of incoming high school sophomores  proved to be too m…

Last year around this time, Kade Wilson pitched his little league squad to a city championship. Wednesday, nearly a year to the day, the right-hander had the right stuff in leading Pepsi to a Babe Ruth championship berth.

LA GRANDE – With its season on the line, The Dalles 12U All Stars used a standout defensive play in a critical moment to stave off a late rally.

At the start of last week’s District 5 Little League Tournament, head coach Ken Brock and his assistants, Ben Donivan and Phil Hukari, ushered out a group of young, determined 12U athletes, who were vying for a championship.

With the District 5 Little League championship on the line, a year of bragging rights up for grabs and a state berth hanging in the balance, Bend North and The Dalles engaged in a six-inning classic Saturday at the Umatilla Sports Complex in Redmond. The Dalles 12U Little League All Stars battled back from a 14-10 deficit with five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, capped by a two-out, walk-off RBI single by Cesar Sanchez that scored pinch-runner Andy Maney in a 15-14 thriller Saturday in a winner-take-all baseball matchup.

For 3 2/3 innings, The Dalles 12U All Stars were frustrated, upset, shaking their heads as they looked up at a 2-0 deficit. Braden Schwartz broke a 2-all tie with the eventual game-winning two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the fourth inning, Nathan Hedges added a fifth-inning homer and Kade Wilson tossed a complete-game masterpiece on 72 pitches with seven strikeouts to vault The Dalles’ 12U All Stars to the District 5 baseball championship rounds in comeback fashion, 5-2, over Redmond Thursday at the Umatilla Sports Complex.

So far, The Dalles Little League’s 12U All Stars are cruising right along in District 5 baseball action from Redmond. In three games, the Stars are a perfect 3-0 and have outscored their opponents by a 39-9 margin, two of those wins coming in mercy-ruled fashion.

Last year, The Dalles Little League All Stars entered District 5 Tournament play with a chip on their shoulders and won. With Styles DeLeon, Braden Schwartz, Riley Brock and Nolan Donivan as the holdovers from the district-winning 10U group, that quartet, with head coach Ken Brock, know there will be a target on their backs at the start of 12U action this Saturday in Redmond.

Papa Murphy’s Pizza pitcher Kade Wilson dealt with nagging injuries all spring. Late Friday night, he battled a high fever, but recovered just enough to take the mound in a Majors championship game against Riley Brock, Mason Caldwell, Braden Schwartz and a hard-hitting Nelson Tires squad.

The Dalles 12U baseball team sent a resounding statement in its final Junior Baseball Organization tournament of the spring.