The Washington state-champion North Bothell Little League team is so close to the Little League World Series, they can practically taste it.
On a sunny, 80-degree Tuesday afternoon in San Bernardino, Calif., the hometown heroes dismantled Laramie Little League of Wyoming, 13-1, in four innings to complete their sweep of pool play and lock up the No. 1 seed heading into tonight’s semifinals against the team from Bend, Ore., which will be televised live on ESPN2 at 7 p.m.
There will be a viewing party at the Hilton Garden Inn in Canyon Park, 22600 Bothell Everett Highway, and donations will be accepted for travel expenses for players, coaches and their families.
“We really put a lot of effort into getting better,” said head coach Mark Ryder on his team. “The goal was to get (to state), and then our next goal was to win state. It was a really tough state tournament, there were a lot of great teams there, and now, everything is icing on the cake.”
In Wednesday’s blowout, Derek Lohr was one of many Bothell players that had a big day at the plate, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs and three runs scored.
Josh Kollman and Carson Ryder added two hits apiece, with Austin Baek, Miles Jackson and Jacob Yost adding to the hit parade.
Bothell scored its 13 runs on 10 base hits, capitalizing on Laramie’s six bases on balls, and three fielding errors.
“I think a big part of it is that the kids are all having fun – they’ve been in a dorm together for seven days, and they still like each other,” kidded Ryder on the tournament’s unique housing arrangements. “They’re still joking around, still having fun – they want to be here.”
PRIME-TIME SHOWDOWN
Perhaps most exciting for the Bothell boys is the fact that they will be performing in front of a national prime-time audience on tonight, proudly sporting the Bothell blue.
Clearly, confidence will not be an issue for the team, as they have outscored their opponents 47-19 in their four wins thus far in the tournament.
“They expect to win,” said Ryder on the team’s mindset. “They think they can do it, and they have confidence in their ability. We know they can come back, we have confidence in everybody. If someone doesn’t hit or doesn’t do something, someone else steps up.”
Although they have a well-deserved off day tomorrow, most of it will be spent at Al Houghton Stadium scouting the remaining teams that they may potentially play in the semifinals – Oregon, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.
Earlier in the week, the kids visited a nearby water park to cool off from the 90-plus-degree temperatures, enjoyed another day of rest on Wednesday and are ready to go in the biggest game so far in Bothell Little League history.
“Right now, we have all of our pitching,” Ryder said. “I would take our top two pitchers against anybody we play. We have a good shot, but we have to step up, and we have to hit the ball.”
And as for their upcoming ESPN appearance, surely a dream come true for most 11- and 12-year old kids, they seem to be taking it in stride and focusing on the task at hand.
“We saw the (ESPN) tower go up, but they haven’t said much about that,” Ryder said. “I think once they go in and start doing the bios of the kids, it’ll settle in. We keep telling the kids, ‘it’s just a game.’ They want to go to the Little League World Series. It’s there… win two games, and go to the Little League World Series. That’s how we have to keep it down to – one game at a time – and not get them too stressed out about anything else.”
Click here to view the results and brackets from the Little League Northwest Regional Tournament.
