What a difference a year can make.

Last year’s North Bothell Little League All-Star team had the talent, but underachieved – failing to make the state tournament. But after dedicating themselves to improvement in all facets of the game, head coach Mark Ryder and his boys put together a state-title run in 2011, eventually falling just two games shy of a Little League World Series berth at the Northwest Regionals tournament in San Bernardino, Calif.

Despite going 4-0 in pool play leading up to the semifinals, Bothell received a tough draw against a talented team from Oregon, Bend South, which held them to just three hits earlier in the tournament.

After falling behind in both the first and third innings, the hometown heroes fought back to tie the score both times, as starting pitcher Derek Lohr and shortstop Carson Ryder came up with clutch RBI hits in front of a nationally-televised audience on ESPN2.

In the end, Bend relief pitcher Troy Viola, who Bothell tagged for five runs in just two-thirds of an inning earlier in the tournament, mastered Bothell’s lineup the second time around, striking out three and throwing three innings of no-hit ball to end the dream.

“I thought all along we were going to win, I thought we were going to score runs,” lamented Ryder. “It was a tough draw, and they just scored more runs than us.”

Ryder added his team was not afraid to come from behind, as they have done so all season – including during the team’s previous game against Oregon.

In that contest, Bothell was trailing 4-0 after three innings, and then scored nine unanswered runs to win.

“All along, we’ve been down, and they’ve battled the whole time and came back,” Ryder recalled. “Through the state tournament and this tournament. I didn’t expect that to change. We stayed aggressive… it just didn’t happen for us that night.”

After making the state tournament two years ago, the first time North Bothell had made a state tournament in a “long, long time” according to Ryder, the team bowed out early at the end of the team’s 2010 campaign. Amid the disappointment of an underachieving season, the players and coaches immediately set their sights on big things for 2011.

“Last year I don’t think we put as much effort into getting better,” Ryder said. “(Losing) really helped us.”

Rijo Athletics, a premier training facility in Woodinville, became a second home for a lot of the Bothell kids as they worked on their physical skills, and also improved their team chemistry.

“All the work paid off,” Ryder said. “They got better as a group, as a team, and this year they seemed like they were a lot closer than they have been in the past.”

Ryder’s son, Carson, who pitches and plays shortstop, agreed. “We’ve been playing three years together and been to a lot of tournaments. We’ve been really close and been hanging out, and that helped the chemistry.”

But nothing could have prepared them for the thrill of flying down to sunny San Bernardino, about an hour east of Los Angeles, to play baseball at Al Houghton Stadium, a first-class facility.

“That whole experience was a great memory,” coach Ryder said. “Walking into that stadium and seeing it, it’s really nice. It’s probably nicer than any of the other regional places. Going down there, being with the kids, the memories of all them having fun… it’s something they’re going to remember for the rest of their lives.”

While the coaches’ and players’ housing was paid for by Little League Baseball, donations from the Bothell community poured in during the team’s two-day fund-raising event at the Canyon Park QFC and Thrasher’s Corner Fred Meyer, so the kids’ families could afford to make the trip, sharing a once-in-a-lifetime experience together.

According to Ryder, between 40 and 50 Bothell fans and family members made the long trek to Vancouver to watch the team win the state championship.

“It was unbelievable,” described Ryder on the local support for the North Bothell team. “Having all that financial support, the donations for our families to come down (to Regionals) was great, and the texts – over and over again asking how our guys were doing… Bothell’s got a small-town mentality, everybody comes together to support everybody else.”

The kids met other 11- and 12-year olds from all over the Northwest, and made some new friends through the game they love.

“Staying as a team in the barracks, it was a great time,” said Derek.

Added Carson, “We could meet a lot of different people that were good at baseball. That was really fun.”

On the pressure of playing on national TV and in front of thousands of fans at Regionals, the kids seemed to be able to keep it in perspective.

“It was just a baseball game,” said catcher Austin Baek.

When asked what they thought about seeing themselves on ESPN2, however, one word in particular seemed to convey the kids’ thoughts.

“It was weird,” Derek said.

Carson added, “I was way worse than I thought. I thought I played the game differently, but it was really weird watching myself.”

While this may be the end of the Little League road for many of the North Bothell kids as they go on to play for select and club teams in future seasons, their manager reflected on the experience as a whole, and the hope that a future squad will get to fulfill that dream of heading to Williamsport, Pa. for the World Series.

“They met a lot of different people, kids from Alaska, southern California kids, Hawaiian kids,” Ryder said. “It’s an experience they’ll remember, and have fun with. Hopefully a couple years down the road, or next year, there will be more North Bothell teams that will go. We hope we are the first of many.”