When the 2006 14U Triple-A National tournament kicks off, the Kansas Rebels will still be at home, but not because they weren’t worthy of competing in the tournament.

In qualifying for the national tournament this spring, the Rebels won two tournaments, should have reached the finals in a third and were merely feet away from winning the state championship. Only injuries could end the Rebels’ season prematurely.

“We just decided to say our state tournament was our last tournament,” Rebels coach Paul Vander Tuig said. “We played so well in the state tournament that we didn’t want to press our luck and try to duplicate that at the national level (with) the injuries we’d been fighting through.”

Although their season didn’t last as long as hoped, the Rebels made the most out of the tournaments they did play in.

The Rebels opened the spring campaign with a third-place finish in the Heritage Classic at the end of March. The Rebels followed that up with another third-place finish in the 3&2 World Series Qualifier. Making this top three finish more impressive than the previous was that it came in a 14U Major tournament, rather than a Triple-A tournament.

Vander Tuig said the 3&2 tournament had several Triple-A teams, but the Rebels could not be stopped by the one Major team they faced. The Rebels played the Vipers, coached by former Kansas City Royals pitcher Mike Boddicker, and won 9-1.

The U14 Kansas Rebels pose with their second place trophies from the USSSA State tournament. Pictured kneeling: Drew Noble, Antonio Garcia, Landon Moseley, Brad Phillips, Drew Branstrom. Back row standing: coach Paul Vander Tuig, Chase McElhaney, Scott Brenn, Justin Vander Tuig, Hayden Emerson, Nick Hassig, Craig Harper, Coach Bob Emerson.

In the semifinals, the only thing to stop the Rebels was something not always associated with a baseball game- time.

The Rebels led the Olathe Seminoles when the time limit for games expired. However, the umpires at the tournament weren’t in charge of the game times. Instead, the complex office was in charge of announcing when times were up. But no one on the field or in the stands seemed to notice when the office announced time had expired in this game, costing the Rebels a shot at the championship.

“I didn’t hear it and, more importantly, the umpires on the field didn’t hear it,” Vander Tuig said. “So, we were in a position where we were ahead and would have won the game and we ended up playing longer than we should have and ultimately ended up losing.”

The time mishap didn’t seem to set back the team as they broke through to win their next tournament. The tourney win was especially nice for the players’ mothers as it came in the Mother’s Day tournament. For the players and coaches, the title was significant because of who they beat in the end.

The Rebels faced off with their league rival, the Olathe Rangers, in the finals. The Rebels came out on top 3-2 and Vander Tuig wouldn’t have had it any other way.

“We’ve kind of traded back and forth with them over the years,” Vander Tuig said. “We just had a great day defensively and that’s the way baseball should be played.”

The Rebels rolled to their second tournament title of the season by capturing the Youth Leadership Tournament of Champions the first weekend of June.

Vander Tuig’s team was ready to do some damage in the 14U Triple-A State tournament by the end of the month, despite the emergence of the injuries which would later shorten their season. The Rebels started pool play with a 7-3 victory over the De Soto Scrappers, but a 14-3 loss to the Hornets put the Rebels in danger of not advancing out of pool play. To reach bracket play, the Rebels needed to win their next game.

The team did just that, by taking one of the best teams in the state Sheridans Shockers to extra innings. The Rebels would eventually pull out a 13-9 victory for their second in pool play.

The Rebels brought out the bats in the next two games, winning both by a combined 20-4. The team advanced all the way to the finals, before falling to the Stilwell Mariners 7-5.

The Mariners led by as many as seven runs, but the Rebels climbed back to within two and even loaded the bases in their final at-bat. The Rebels nearly took the lead as a deep fly ball that easily cleared the fence drifted just a few feet foul.

Despite the near miss, the coach was proud of the effort.

“It really was one of those magical weekends,” Vander Tuig said. “One day you’re worried about making bracket play and the next day you’re a base hit away from winning the state championship.”

While the state championship game was Vander Tuig’s proudest moment, this season provided Vander Tuig with too many memorable moments to narrow it down to just one.

“There are a lot of great memories of kids and individual plays,” Vander Tuig said. “I’m trying not to get into individual kids and what they did because I’ll leave somebody out. All the kids on this team made great plays or had clutch hits. Everybody contributed.”