HAMILTON — West Side Little League manager Ken Coomer embraced in conversation with assistant Tim Nichting as their 12U All-Stars celebrated Thursday night.
It never gets old for the longtime Hamilton youth baseball coaches.
Braydon Caudill pitched a complete-game two-hitter, and West Side strung together enough offense to beat New Albany 6-1 in the Ohio Little League state championship game at West Side Little League.
West Side won all six of its postseason contests to claim the program’s 21st state title.
“Tim and I were talking about that 10 minutes after the game,” Coomer said. “We’ve been doing this forever. You would think it’s like, ‘OK.’ But every new one is just like the old ones. You still get that feeling — get the goosebumps.”
West Side advances to the Great Lakes Regional in Whitestown, Indiana, and will face the Kentucky-Michigan winner at 4 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 4. That game will be televised on ESPN+.
The regional tournament runs through Aug. 7, with the winner getting a bid to the Little League World Series.
“I feel really excited,” Caudill said. “We’re going to regionals with the team, and it’s going to be really fun.
“It’s really good because we’re known everywhere. Anywhere we go, they’re like, ‘Are you guys Hamilton? The one that went to the Little League World Series?’ We’re like, ‘Yeah.’”
West Side made it to the Little League World Series in 1991, 1993, 2007, 2010 and 2021. The 2024 Little League World Series takes place in Williamsport, Penn., Aug. 14-25.
“You’ve got a whole new group of kids that have never experienced this before,” Coomer said. “That’s what it’s all about.”
TOURNEY RIVALS
West Side and New Albany aren’t strangers to one another when it comes to battling on the Little League diamond. New Albany knocked West Side out of the state tournament in 2023.
But it was the team from Hamilton that got things started on Thursday.
Caudill led the game off with a double and scored on Parker Moyer’s grounder that got through the left side of the New Albany infield. New Albany tied it up in the bottom half.
Caudill didn’t allow a hit after the third inning.
“I felt good on defense,” Caudill said. “In the dugout, my teammates were really helping me get up. They just helped me pitch — helped me get through it.”
Eric Albrinck scored on an Eddie Frazier fielder’s choice in top of the fourth to put West Side back on top 2-1. Then Anthony Saurber laced a triple in the fifth and crossed the plate when Alijah Holmes singled to make it 3-1.
“I saw it go down the line, and I thought I wasn’t going to make it to third,” Saurber said. “(Coach) told me to go to third, so I went.”
West Side tacked on three more runs in the top of the sixth for good measure.
Albrinck (1 for 3, two runs), Caudill (1 for 3, run), Moyer (1 for 3, RBI), Braeden Sparks (1 for 1, run), Frazier (two RBI), Jordan Malloy (RBI), Saurber (1 for 1, run) and Holmes (1 for 2, RBI) led West Side offensively.
Caudill had four strikeouts, two walks, two hits and no earned runs on the mound.
“All games have been different kind of in a way,” Coomer said. “Every different kid steps up like that. That’s good team effort from all the different games. It’s not about one kid on this team — it’s one through 12. Everybody contributes.
“The good thing about this team is that we keep on fighting and fighting. We feel that if we keep on providing opportunities, eventually it’s going to happen, and it happened.”
A DAY’S REST
Caudill said hard work and determination has led to his West Side team’s success this summer.
“We had to do a lot of practice,” Caudill said. “We had to hustle. … (Coach) might be nice and take off practice for one day.”
Coomer said the team is, indeed, giving his players Friday off to enjoy the state championship victory. But not for long.
“Well, we’re actually going to have tomorrow our first day off since when we started — which was June 10,” Coomer smirked. “They deserve a day off — celebrate a little bit today and come back hard on Saturday.”
‘WE’RE GOING TO GINA’S’
Saurber understands that the job isn’t done just yet. But the West Side catcher and the rest of his teammates knew exactly what they were going to do to celebrate their big win Thursday.
“We’re going to Gina’s,” Saurber said referring to Gina’s Italian Kitchen and Tavern located directly across the street from West Side Little League.
THE TEAM
West Side Little League’s 12U All-Star team consists of Eric Albrinck, Zaylan Anderson, Preston Baker, Braydon Caudill, Eddie Frazier, Alijah Holmes, Cash Jones, Jordan Malloy, Parker Moyer, Brady Quick, Anthony Saurber and Braeden Sparks.
West Side is coached by manager Ken Coomer and assistants Tim Nichting, Chris Craft and Danny Adams.
