Midland Northern Little League spotted Eagle Pass American Little League an early 2-0 lead, then scored in each of its last four at-bats to claim an 11-6 victory in the Texas West championship at Kelly Field in Fort Worth.

The win was Midland's second over Eagle Pass in three days, and their third win in the four-team tournament. Midland Northern won its first-ever state championship in the major baseball division, and advanced to the Southwestern Region tournament in Waco.

"They persevere and they just keep going no matter what odds are stacked against them," said Midland manager Shaun Standard after his team overcame the early title game deficit against a league that came within a game of reaching the Little League World Series the previous summer. "They just go out and play and just keep on coming through."

After spotting Eagle Pass an early lead, Midland knotted the score in the third inning. Payton Tranum doubled to drive in John Wuthrich, and then scored the tying run on Colby Standard's base hit. The District 3 champions then took the lead in the third when Jaxon Hallmark and Ty Coleman each delivered two run doubles.

Eagle Pass sliced Midland's advantage to just one run with a three-run rally in the fifth, but Midland reclaimed the game's momentum when Hillman launched a grand slam home run in the top of the sixth.

"It makes you a little more comfortable when you go into the bottom of the sixth with a five-run lead instead of a one-run lead," noted Standard. "Eric has been hitting home runs for us all year and he came up huge in that situation."

The victory was Midland's sixth in a row following a 12-2 loss to Lubbock Southwest midway through the Section 1 tournament. Northern later defeated the same team on consecutive days to claim that tournament's title.

"That refocused us, and got us back to where we need to be," said Standard of his team's misfire in its loss to Southwest. "(Midland's players) weren't scared, they were just mad. They knew that they didn't get the product out there on the field that we're used to getting."

Northern regained its stride in the latter stages of that tournament, then opened state tournament play with a 6-2 victory over Midway Little League. Hallmark paced the Midland offense with three hits and a pair of runs scored, while Tranum scored three times and added a solo home run. Wuthrich drove in a pair of runs and McLane Mannix collected a pair of hits.

The next day, three different players homered as Northern downed Eagle Pass American by an 11-7 score. Tranum and Coleman each homered and collected three hits, while Wuthrich and Mannix both contributed two hits and scored twice.

Tranum struck out three batters while pitching into the fourth inning, before Hallmark and Mannix closed out the victory and lifted Northern into a major baseball state championship game for the first time in the league's history.

Eagle Pass, which had opened the tournament with a victory over North Brownsville Little League, defeated the same team by a 4-2 score in the elimination bracket final to earn a rematch before falling a second time to Northern.

Eagle Pass American continued a string in which the league had advanced to the state tournament or the Section 3 championship game for the eighth time in a nine-year span.

Midland Northern faced a difficult pool assignment at the Southwestern Region tournament, and opened the tournament with close losses to Lafayette (Louisiana) Little League and Pearland Maroon (Texas East) Little League before defeating White Hall (Arkansas) in their final contest to secure a third place finish in their pool. Lafayette eventually defeated Pearland Maroon in the region championship game.