Members of The Daily Astorian youth baseball team made some headlines of their own this spring.

The Astoria-area team ended its season in second place in the Lower Columbia Cal Ripken League, after a stellar fight-back in the end-of-season tournament.

“I was so impressed with them. It was quite a turnaround after a tough start,” said head coach Steve Baxley, whose assistants were Don Glover, Larry Goza and Mark Gagnon.

Team members are Josh Jensen, Evan Knight, Brandon Conner-Junes, Dylan Glover, Cody Falk, Rain Goza, Stevie Baxley, Justin Gagnon, Dustyn Morrison, Jake Tussing, Thunder Woodworth and Cody Guritz.

The team played in the AAA division for 10- and 11-year-olds.

Players earned three wins during the season and headed into the final tournament. They won their first game, then dropped into the lower bracket after losing their second matchup.

Thereafter, every game was loser-out. If the scores were tied after four innings, or the one-hour time limit, there was the prospect of an a unsatisfying coin-flip.

The team won six consecutive games to reach the final.

“We struggled and we overcame,” said the coach. Every game was won by one or two runs, and league rules on the use of pitchers meant the coach had to share those duties around the team.

The DA team won two games earlier in the last day. The championship final, against a stronger, unbeaten Naselle, Wash., team, was a heavy loss, but none of the players or supporters were disappointed because of the grit the players had shown, Baxley said.

The team brought home a 3-foot tall trophy which is on display at the sponsor’s office at 949 Exchange St. “To me this trophy was won by every boy on the team,” said the coach.