The AZ Knights defeated the AZ Predators 9-5 Sunday in the 12u Open Gold championship game of the USSSA Bring the Heat Classic at Big League Dreams.

The Predators held the lead through the first three innings, but the Knights tied it up in the bottom of the fourth and scored five runs in the fifth to take control.

“This team had better pitching than the other teams we faced, and we were a little impatient early on,” said Knights coach Tom Kirchheimer. “But we have a Major League philosophy. We grind it out.”

The Predators took the early lead when Emery Miller hit a grounder up in the middle for a double and two RBI in the first inning. Miller went 3-for-3 in the game with a single in the third inning and an RBI-double in the fifth.

Clayton Reible extended the Predators lead to 4-0 in the second inning with a two-RBI double to left.

After rallying to be within one run of the Predators, the Knights started their big fifth inning when Daniel Shepherd hit a fly ball that was dropped. Shepherd scored on a wild pitch to tie the game. Dimetres Moore doubled down the line in left and plated Matt Sill and Boyd Walker to give the Kights the lead. Pitcher Scott Mehan hit a line drive double to left for two more runs.

“We had them up until the fifth, but we had a couple of errors in that inning and they scored on us,” said Predators coach Tony Crisci.

The Predators are an 11u team preparing for the 12u division next season.