The 10U Gainesville Cannons were lucky to even make it into the USSSA state tournament, let alone win the whole thing.

"The kids decided they were actually going to dump the Gatorade bucket on me," reported manager Greg Michna, whose boys had previously won states at the 8U and 9U levels.

Finishing pool play, Oct. 10 in Petersburg with a 1-1 record, the Cannons clinched the eighth and final seed for the three-game finale. Twelve teams entered, eight remained, and as an eighth seed, the Cannons were guaranteed to have an uphill battle the whole tournament as they were designated the "away" team at each game.

The boys needed a game plan and thus held their first-ever "players-only" meeting at their hotel Saturday night, excluding parents and coaches from the conversation.

According to Michna, the half-hour discussion served as the tipping point for the whole weekend.

Spotting the top-ranked Stafford Riverbandits four runs in the bottom of the first inning of Game 1, Gainesville rallied for five runs in the top of the third inning before giving up two more in the bottom half.

Then, one full inning later in the fifth, the Cannons' bats came to life. Will Heltibridle rocked a triple down the left field line and Jake Michna brought him in with a single. Chase DeGrood followed up with an RBI double.

Before the Riverbandits got the inning under control, Gainesville brought in 14 runs on 13 hits (four for extra bases). One batter walked, another was hit by a pitch and one more reached on an error.

Heltibridle alone came to the plate three times.

"Every ball was hit in the outfield. It was more runs than we've ever scored in an inning," said the manager Michna. "It was one of the most amazing things I've ever witnessed."

Jake Brown (double) and Reese Varley (triple) joined Heltibridle and DeGrood by clocking extra base hits, leading to a 19-6 final score once closer Austin Rickets pitched a shutout in the bottom of the fifth.

Two hours later at 3 p.m., the Cannons came back to tanle with the Richmond Baseball Academy (West). Michael Fyvie kept the momentum up from the last game with a lead-off double before Ernie Bass followed up with an RBI triple over the rightfielder's head. Brown boosted the score to 2-0 with a single to left that drove in Bass.

Up 3-1 in the fourth, the Gainesville bats came cracking against with a seven-run outing sparked by a Jack Carayiannis single to right field. Gainesville carried the game by a 12-3 margin.

"We score in bunches and have in our succesful games," said Michna. "The kids seem to feed off each other. They really challenge themselves, each other."

In the championship against the Chesapeake Rays, Bass and Brown both clubbed doubles in the first inning and Varley and Jake Michna both cracked singles to put the Cannons on the board 3-0.

Brown helped his own cause by pitching a scoreless first inning, leading to Fyvie knocking in Carayiannis on an RBI single before Brown knocked in Austin Kirby with a sacrifice fly.

The Cannons' 5-0 lead turned into 8-2 after three innings. Brown proved to be sterling not just in pitching but defensively as well as he converted an inning-ending 1-6-3 double play.

The defensive heroics did not end there either as Varley caught a line drive in the fourth inning and went to pick off the lead runner on a return throw to first base. Though the ball ended up in right field, Bass played backup and hurled the ball to shortstop Jake Michna at second base for the unorthodox 5-9-6 double play.

"When you turn double plays, it takes the other team out of big innings. When you have two back to back inning-ending double plays, it takes the momentum out of them and it keeps our kids excited," said Greg Michna.

The shortstop Michna then received the rock on the mound with one batter remaining in the six inning, up 10-4, as he came in to relieve DeGrood, who was in his third inning of work.

"He had a smile on his face," the boy's father and coach said. "He was throwing harder than he ever has."

Three pitches. Three strikes. Championship.