Nevada falls short in Little League World Series, but the state is becoming a youth baseball power

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) — Cory Edwards has practice on Tuesday.

After coaching the Paseo Verde All-Star team from Henderson, Nevada, to a runner-up finish in the Little League World Series on Sunday, Edwards will be back on the diamond, coaching his 10-year-old club team.

It’s the kind of year-round commitment it takes to get a bunch of eager kids to this level. After all, about 6,000 U.S. Little League teams attempt to make the 20-team tournament in Williamsport every year.

“You have to wake up early, you have to get to the field, you have to put the reps in,” Edwards said after Nevada’s 11-2 loss to Curaçao on Sunday. “If you get enough adults to believe that that’s going to work and push kids to do that, then you end up in a place like this.”

Nevada’s work got them to the championship game, with plenty of notable achievements along the way.

Carsynn Meyer, who had the first RBI single by a girl in the U.S. championship, became the first girl on an American team to play in title game. She went 0 for 2.

Nevada became the first state to reach back-to-back finals since Georgia in 2006-07. Last year's Nevada team lost to Taiwan in the title game. The Henderson team got there without center fielder Theo Bingham, who was sidelined by an illness. Bingham was with the team in the dugout on Sunday.

“They’re 12,” Edwards said. “I hope it’s not the best experience of their entire lives. But I’m sure it’s going to be top 10 or up there. So I hope they take with them that they can conquer and do anything.”

Paseo Verde Little League has represented the Mountain Region at the LLWS twice in the last three years. The 2024 team lost to Florida in the U.S. semifinals.

“I think it says that we have a lot of smart people making good moves to make programs better,” Edwards said.

Curaçao proved too much for this scrappy team of 10-, 11-, and 12-year-olds.

Leading 4-2 in the fifth inning, the team from Willemsted scored four runs to put the championship out of reach. Starting pitcher Juriënsly De Windt hit a two-out, bases-clearing double off Edwards’ son Logan.

“Gut instinct was to bring in Brooks (McFarland) and not let Logan go back out,” Edwards said. “I didn’t follow that. I think at this point you try to overanalyze it too much and just don’t trust what got you here.”

Nevada had one of the most fundamentally sound teams in the tournament. Although it didn’t hit a home run, the team tied a tournament record by turning three double plays in the U.S. championship. Nevada turned another against Curaçao.

But Sunday’s performance was a bit too sloppy. James Esber was tagged out trying to advance to third on a ground ball to the left side. According to Edwards, miscommunicated pitches resulted in multiple Curaçao extra-base hits.

“I also just didn’t think that we executed well, running into an out at third, we’re missing a couple signs, missed communications with pitch calling,” Edwards said. “That’s baseball.”

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