PARIS —  There has rarely, if ever, been a lack of confidence coming from the Danville Post 210 Speakers dugout this season. And why shouldn’t they have a good feeling each time they step onto the field?

With 29 regular season wins, and nine consecutive District 18 titles under head coach Adam Decker, the Speakers entered this year’s tournament in Paris with aspirations of picking up No. 10 for their coach.

They had a late scare in Friday’s District 18 championship game against Kansas Post 539, but ultimately walked away with a 6-5 win in 10 innings.

“I think coming into District, we really thought we were unbeatable,” Danville pitcher and infielder Aaron Lewellyn said. “But playing them again tonight, and them giving us a game like they did, I really think it brought us back to reality.

“It’s a real wake-up call. I think we’re going to have to be hyped and really ready to go when we head into the Division.”

Lewellyn and many of his teammates thought they might have an easier go against a Kansas team that, despite defeating the Speakers five days earlier, was short on pitching after working its way to the championship through the loser’s bracket.

And in the bottom of the first inning, Lewellyn backed his feelings with a grand slam to left field, quickly giving the Speakers a 4-0 lead.

But when Kansas pitcher Cam Phillps got locked in, and his offense battled back to force extra innings, Danville felt a shift in momentum and began wondering if one final elimination game would be necessary, making it a late night.

The Speakers scored one run in the sixth to take a 5-2 lead, but two unearned runs crossed the plate for Kansas in the eighth, and one last run tied the game in the ninth on a wild pitch.

“I’m going to be honest,” said Lewellyn, who threw three innings of relief for starting pitcher Blake Janesky. “I was a little worried there in the ninth when we didn’t score. But after that, when we shut them back down, I knew we had it won.”

After Ryne Watson reached on an error to lead off the Danville half of the 10th, Michael Grant found himself on first on a fielders’ choice.

And with no outs and time running out, Kansas pitcher Cam Phipps intentionally walked Joe Pratt to load the bases, hoping for a force out and a clean escape.

But the plan backfired when Casey Fletcher worked the count full, and drew a one-out walk to force in the winning run.

“They did the right thing (by loading the bases), but he just had to come back and give Fletcher strikes and let him hit the ball,” Lewellyn said. “But he did a hell of a job. He threw 10 innings. Not a lot of pitchers can come out here and do that. For him to step up for his team like that, that’s a big thing to do.”

While Danville (31-8) worked its way through three pitchers, including Cody Burton who picked up the win after throwing a perfect 10th inning, Kansas (15-10) stuck with Phipps through the entire game.

The righthander threw 180 pitches, recorded eight strikeouts, walked six (including the intentional pass), and allowed only four earned runs.

“Tip your hat to them, they just don’t give up,” Decker said. “They’ve got a decent lineup, they’ve got some guys that can hit, they don’t give away at bats. I mean, we’re throwing everything we can at them. I don’t think it was just us giving the game away. They fought back, and it was a battle. I’m just glad we came out on top. I thought our pitching staff did a good enough job to keep us in the game.

“Offensively, the kid on the mound, tip your hat to him, too. We couldn’t get to him after that first inning. I don’t know what he was throwing up there, but we just couldn’t get it done at the plate.”

Aside from Lewellyn’s grand slam, Zane Dillon had two hits and one RBI for Danville, and Joe Pratt went 3 for 3 with a double and two walks.

Admittedly, Post 210 got a wake-up call against Kansas, but left Paris with a tune-up they hope will help them to their first Division title since 2007.

“I told these guys that this is the best team in my 10 years that we’ve faced in the District tournament,” Decker said. “I really believe that. I didn’t say that after, I said that going into it. I saw them play Sunday against us and thought maybe it was just kind of a fluke that they had 21 hits against us. But then I scouted them against Paris and thought, ‘No, they really do have some guys that can swing it a little bit.’

“I told them going into it that I think these guys think they are unbeatable sometimes — which there’s something to be said about that, too. I tried to warn them that this team would fight them for nine innings, and they fought us for 18 innings in this tournament.”

Now that another District title is wrapped up, the Speakers will focus their attention on next week’s Division 4 tournament, scheduled to begin on Tuesday in Champaign.