GROVES — Bridge City Little League proved it was willing to wait. When the moment was right BCLL pulled the trigger for a 12-11 come-from-behind win over Groves National Little League in the District 32 12-year-old All-Stars championship game.

Bridge City had taken the quick route from the tournament start to the championship, winning two in a row to reach the title game. Groves National, on the other hand, battled through the consolation bracket, playing five games before earning a spot in Thursday’s elimination game. Even with a win Thursday, GNLL would have had to come back today to play against BCLL again.

As it turned out, GNLL ran out of gas on the mound before the sixth inning ended, leaving their hopes of a championship in the dust at GNLL Field.

With Groves playing as the game’s visiting team thanks to the tournament bracket layout, GNLL’s Austin Bost blasted a first-inning home run to give the Purple-and-White a 1-0 lead with Bridge City coming to the plate. Bost finished 3 for 3 with two home runs, his second one a two-run shot in the fifth inning. He also had a walk.

Bridge City responded with a two-run double in the bottom of the first by Andrew Moyland.

Another long-ball by Groves, this one a solo shot of the second inning’s first pitch by Jace Arvizo, tied the game at 2-2. A bases-loaded walked by Jace Lane pushed Groves ahead 3-2. On the very next pitch, Zachary Murdock crushed a grand slam for what seemed to be a runaway 7-2 lead.

BCLL cut that advantage to Taylor Wegaffe single in the second for a 7-3 difference. That was all Bridge City could muster though. Both teams went scoreless until the bottom of the fourth when Bridge City’s Brandon Vela sliced a home run shot to right to cut Groves’ lead to 7-4.

After Bost’s second home run pushed Groves back out to a comfortable 9-4 advantage, Lane launched a two-run shot of his own over the wall for an 11-4 lead.

Just as GNLL seemed to have the game under control and headed to a final elimination game today in Bridge City, the BCLL found a chink in the Groves Nationals armor as the pitching crew began to wane. After a hit-by-pitch and two walks to load the bases, by the fifth inning’s starting pitcher, Bost came on to finish the deal. A single and a walk helped Bridge City close the gap to 11-6 heading into the top of the sixth.

In the top of the sixth, GNLL went three-and-out, setting up the sixth-inning heroics by Bridge City.

After two straight walks and a single loaded the bases, GNLL finally got its first out of the inning on a swinging strikeout. The next two hitters — Skylar Thibodeaux and Luke Hollier — earned walks, pushing home two runs to cut the score to 11-8. Wegaffe singled another run home to cut the GNLL lead to 11-9.

After a strikeout left Bridge City down to its final out, Justin Romero came to the plate and singled home two runs to tie the game at 11-11.

Facing a 3-2 count with two outs and the winning run standing on third base, Lane slapped a bouncer to third base. As the winning run came scrambling home, the ball took a wicked bounce out of the grass and into the face of the Groves third baseman.

Bridge City captured the tournament championship 12-11.