The Kansas City Siege, a 12-and-under baseball team that contains a handful of Platte County residents, reached the championship series of a prestigious youth tournament this past weekend.

The Siege finished as the runner-up in the Triple Crown Sports Omaha SlumpBuster 12U Division I Elite championships in Council Bluffs, Iowa, just outside of Omaha. The invite-only event coincided with the opening ceremonies and first round of the College World Series.

“It’s a great atmosphere with the College World Series going on,” Siege coach Dirk Kiser said. “Usually you get to see a lot of teams that you don’t normally play. And the way they set it up, you get to play a lot of games. The format was interesting and to play three games for the championship was a neat deal. I’m proud of the kids for the way they played.”

Despite ultimately falling 2-1 in a best-of-three championship series against Cangelosi Sparks Black on Saturday, June 25, the Siege found plenty of success with a unique baseball experience along the way.

“This was really fun,” Noah Jensen said. “I liked playing all the different teams and I enjoyed the College World Series experience.”

Teammate Tyson Kiser agreed.

“It was awesome because the fields are really nice and it was just really fun to play in this tournament,” he said.

ADAM BURNS/Special to the Citizen
Kansas City Siege coach Dirk Kiser, left, addresses his team after a game at the Triple Crown Sports Omaha SlumpBuster tournament this past weekend in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

The Siege, ranked No. 1 nationally in the Youth 1 Sports 12U power rankings, wasn’t shy to let people know where they’re from, either. At times during the tourney, the team blared Tech N9ne music in the dugout between innings, displaying their pride for the Kansas City rap artist and the city itself.

“We’ve been representing KC all year, and I do think we’re one of the best teams in the Kansas City area,” coach Kiser said. “The main thing we try to do as coaches is to make sure they’re mentally prepared for the game but also allow them to have fun and enjoy being in the dugout and hanging out with each other. They have pretty good chemistry and they’ve been playing together for the last couple years.”

The Siege, who finished the tourney 7-3, marched their way to a top seed in bracket play with a 3-0 showing in pool play. Then, the Siege beat Omaha-based Millard Elite 13-8 and Gretna, Nebraska’s Thunder Gold 10-0 before suffering their first loss with a 5-1 result against Cangelosi Sparks in semifinal action to be sent to the losers bracket.

The Siege worked its way back into contention with a 10-5 win over pool foe Ohio Spiders to set up a best-of-three championship series with Cangelosi Sparks, Bo Jackson’s youth baseball academy based in Lockport, Illinois.

The two sides traded one-run victories to force a Game 3, one that the Cangelosi Sparks won 11-3.

“When you’re only used to play three or four games and then you get into a tournament like this, it’s a different feel for them. We kind of ran out of juice at the end, but it was a great experience for us,” said coach Kiser, who played at Rockhurst University and was inducted into the RU Hall of Fame in 2018.

Coach Kiser was pleased with his teams’ play throughout the week.

“Top to bottom of our lineup, we’re pretty strong and we’re a very strong defensive team,” he said. “We have seven or eight guys that can go on the mound and pitch at any given time. … Counting fall I think we’re 48-5.”

And, of course, his players were just as satisfied.

“I just liked playing,” Tyler Coffin said. “It’s fun to play baseball and if you win it’s a bonus.”

“It was great,” Jensen said. “Not a lot of teams get to have this experience.”