The Kansas Rebels 10-U team ended a long baseball season with a third-place finish in the United States Specialty Sports Assn. National AA tournament, held last weekend at the Johnson County 3 & 2 complex in Lenexa, Kansas.

The Rebels’ dramatic run in the tournament ended Sunday with a 9-8 loss to the Bentonville Diamond Dawgs, the Arkansas state champions from Bentonville, Ark

The Rebels finished the season with a 44-13 record.

“It was one of the most fun seasons we’ve ever had,” said Chuck Vinoverski, whose son Jake plays for the Rebels. “They learned to win and they learned to lose, but they did more winning than losing.”

The tournament was a thrilling experience for the Rebels and their family members, some of whom had come from far away to be a part of the action.

“It’s better than NASCAR and I’m an avid NASCAR fan,” said Ivan Sells, who made the trip from Phoenix, Ariz., to watch his grandson, Montana Samuels.

After advancing out of the three-game round of pool play as the sixth seed out of 16 teams, the Rebels began Saturday morning with a game against the Lawton (Okla.) Lynx.

Down four runs, the Rebels scored five runs in the fourth inning to take the lead and went on to win the game, 9-8. Samuels pitched the final two innings in relief of starter Driskell Johnson, allowing no runs on one hit and striking out three. Cody Stanclift went 2-for-3 and scored a run.

The victory led to a matchup with the Redhawks, a team from Lee’s Summit, Mo. Despite good hitting performances by Johnson and Brett Frantz, the Rebels were defeated, 10-6

On the Road with the Rebels – The story of a baseball team from Lawrence and a long weekend playing in a national tournament outside of Kansas City. View multimedia slideshow …

The loss put the Rebels in the losers bracket of the double-elimination tournament, meaning they would have to win at least four more games in the span of 24 hours to make the finals.

Their first opponent was a familiar one — The Topeka Crocs, who play in the Shawnee County Amateur Baseball Assn. Peewee league with the Rebels.

That familiarity may have helped the Rebels. Samuels, Zach Losey and Anthony Buffalomeat each collected two hits en route to a 9-7 victory. Stanclift started the game for the Rebels, and Buffalomeat pitched four innings in relief.

That evening, the Rebels faced the Shawnee Mission East Lancers, a team from the Kansas City metropolitan area. The Rebels soundly defeated the Lancers, 14-6, to advance to the next round. Johnson went 3-for-4 in the game and Wyatt Woods went 2-for-2 and scored three runs.

Saturday night at 10 p.m., exhausted Rebels players and parents climbed into their cars to make the half-hour drive back to Lawrence.

Kansas Rebels 10-U player Brett Frantz slides into home to score a run against the Bentonville Diamond Dawgs July 18 at the 3 & 2 complex in Lenexa.

They didn’t have much time to relax.

The victory against the Lancers set up a game Sunday morning at 8 a.m. against the tournament’s top seed, the St. Joseph Outlaws, the Missouri state champions.

Despite both teams having played late games the night before, they played a close game, with the Rebels eliminating the Outlaws, 3-2.

In the fifth inning, with the Rebels up by a run, the Outlaws had runners at second and third with nobody out. Rebels coaches decided to make a pitching change and called on center fielder Buffalomeat, who made a number of spectacular catches over the weekend, to pitch in relief.

With the Outlaw fans sensing a comeback, and urging their players on, Buffalomeat remianed cool under pressure, striking out the next three batters and holding the Outlaws scoreless.

Kansas Rebels 10-U pitcher Anthony Buffalomeat begins his delivery against the St. Joseph Outlaws July 18 at the 3 & 2 Field Complex in Lenexa. The Rebels won the game 3-2 and placed third in the USSSA AA National tournament.

Buffalomeat then retired the side in order in the sixth and final inning to send his team on to the semifinals against the Diamond Dawgs. Stanclift started the game for the Rebels, allowing just two runs in four innings and Elliot Vaughn went 1-for-2 and scored two runs.

Though they were exhausted and drastically short of pitchers, the Rebels appeared to have an opportunity to come up with yet another improbable victory, this time against the Diamond Dawgs.

The Rebels scored two runs in the fifth inning to tie the game at 7-all. But the Diamond Dawgs scored two runs of their own in the top of the sixth.

The Rebels had one more chance in the bottom of the sixth and final inning. With one out, Losey singled, giving hope to the Rebels’ faithful.

With the pressure on, Johnson delivered in the clutch, singling to bring home Losey. After Buffalomeat struck out, Samuels singled to move Johnson over to third.

But with the tying run at third base, the Rebels’ luck finally ran out.

On a 2-2 count, Frantz took a swing but came up empty and the Diamond Dawgs advanced to the finals.

Buffalomeat, Samuels and Johnson were named to the all-tournament team.

After the game, the Rebels and their families headed to the parking lot to go their separate ways, after spending nearly every weekend over the summer together.

With his grandson’s season finished, Sells was starting to think about his 3:30 a.m. wake-up time to make it to the airport for his flight back to Phoenix.

But he’d had more than his share of thrills with the Rebels over the weekend.

“They did all right,” Sells said. “Somebody’s gotta lose, somebody’s gotta win. Unfortunately.”