Kings of the world

      It may not be October, but an isolated group of Southern Nevadans already are celebrating a World Series victory.
      The Las Vegas Yard Dawgs, a group of 15-and-under baseball players, emerged from a seven-team field last month to capture the locally held United States Amateur Baseball Association World Series.
      Making its way through the loser's bracket, Las Vegas held off a furious rally by Cathedral City, Calif. to win the championship 13-11.
      "We've won some tournaments and this is a group that has worked hard," said Yard Dawgs coach Kevin Kohler. "It wasn't easy, but a lot of hard work was paid off with this victory."
      Unlike past tournaments the Yard Dawgs had competed in, the United States Amateur Baseball Association World Series was one they wouldn't be denied.
      "When we've been beaten early on, the kids would pretty much go flat," Kohler said. "This time we got to the final game and faced the same team that knocked us off easily, but the kids said, `Not this time,' and that was impressive."
      The Yard Dawgs started off in round-robin play, where they went 4-1 and earned the No. 2-seed heading into the double-elimination championship round.
      But after an impressive 18-2 victory over the Gibsons from Vancouver, Canada, it was the Las Vegas Coyotes sending the Yard Dawgs to the losers' bracket with a 5-1 win.
      Yet as Kohler said, the early-tourney loss turned into motivation for the Yard Dawgs, who routed the Washington Hurricanes 10-2 and blitzed the Coyotes in the loser's bracket semifinals 13-0.
      Trailing 3-1 in the top of the third inning of the title game, Las Vegas was paced by lead-off back-to-back triples by Jordan Amin and Robert Gallegos, and went on to score 10 runs and take an 11-3 lead.
      The Yard Dawgs may have been a bit too comfortable heading into the bottom of the seventh with a 13-4 lead.
      "I'm always worried because I've been in this too long," Kohler said. "They had some really good patient hitters and for us nothing went right in (the bottom of the seventh) inning."
      Kohler's understatement is mild compared to what actually happened, as Cathedral City responded to being on the brink of elimination with two outs, by scoring seven runs and leaving runners in scoring position.
      "And when they got to their two best hitters, I was really worried," Kohler said. "I know everyone was looking for me to take (pitcher) Matt (Hansen) out, but he had that look on his face like he was still in control. He kept saying, `Give me the ball,' so I was going to go down with the ship with Matt.
      "I know I was going to be criticized if we would have lost, but I was going down with him."
      But the pitching ace came through and the Yard Dawgs were victorious as Hansen struck out the final batter.
      Hansen, a Southeast resident, and teammate Matt Wagner, from the Northwest, were named the tournament's Most Valuable Pitchers.
      Green Valley's Amin was tabbed Most Valuable Player after going 3-for-3 in the championship and hitting .735 in the tournament.
      Other members of the Yard Dawgs are Southwest residents Brandon Willmott, Ryan Jacob, Casey McDonald, Austin Stout, Garrett Kohler, Steve Russell, Jeff Jacobsen and Coltyn Simmons; Northwest residents Jared Johnson, Robert Grana, Ricky McCann, Matt Wagner; Southeast residents Gallegos, Chris Ortiz, Derek Rodriguez, Matt Hansen and Marcel Benson; and, Anthony Garcia from North Las Vegas.