'Win it for Theo': Happy distraction eases Nevada's nerves at LLWS

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, PA — Championship Saturday here is something to behold from a regular Little League perspective. The stands are crowded at Lamade Stadium. The hill behind the outfield wall is busy with more fans.

The music is blaring. ESPN commentators are calling the game.

You can imagine how (Henderson) Nevada’s players felt when they saw teammate Theo Bingham before them. Bingham had been in the hospital with an illness and hasn’t been able to play in the Little League World Series.

“Theo worked hard all summer,” said Nevada’s coach, Cory Edwards. “It’s unfortunate that he doesn’t have the energy and is sick and can’t play, but I think for him to get to be here for his teammates when we were on the field, seeing him walk up … just for how nervous the kids were, the pressure situation that we’re supposed to be in, it just all went away when they were smiling and waving at Theo and chanting his name.

“I thought that was just a really nice moment for the kids to have, for Theo to have  and for him to be here and get to at least come down on the field I think is super important.”

Sometimes with the pressure of youth sports, you just need a happy distraction. Once Nevada had it, it powered past (Hamilton) Ohio 12-2 on Saturday, Aug. 29. It was a game that ended on a mercy rule when Maddox Bryan singled in the winning run.

“While he was away, we were hoping and praying that he was OK, but to see him here, to see him looking better, is awesome,” Bryan said.

The faces of the other two Nevada players at the press table also lit up after Bingham’s name was mentioned. Carsynn Meyer, the first girl to play in the U.S. championship since the tournament began to recognize U.S. and international championship games in 1992, gestured to teammate Owen Guzman to speak next.

Guzman said he had been thinking about pitching against a team that he faced in their first game here and had given him a tough time.  

“It gave us some energy to want the championship more,” he said.

Meyer said her teammate’s presence gave her even more reason to try her hardest and “win it for Theo.”

Guzman pitched into the fourth inning in front of America. Meyer gave him run support with an RBI single in the bottom of the second with a hard ground ball on a 2-2 pitch up the middle.

Over the course of the summer, she has proven relentless, just like her Nevada teammates. Nevada pounded out 14 hits in the shortened game. It also turned three double plays.

“Nevada plays year-round baseball,” says Edwards, the head coach. “And so we play in 29 degree weather, we play in 115 degree weather. I think the amount of work that the kids are putting in, the leagues have a passion for good coaches, competitive baseball.

“I mean, everybody was inspired from that first team from Nevada a couple years ago, and I think the energy has just been really great, and we’re competitive. We like to practice, we like to outdo each other. I think there’s that, too. So I’m looking forward (to) what Nevada has to offer in the next couple years.”

Paseo Verde Little League, which this team represents, also sent a team to the Little League World Series in 2025. Summerlin South Little League, from Las Vegas, won last year’s Little League U.S. championship before losing to Chinese Taipei.

Paseo Verde gets Curaçao on Sunday, Aug. 30 after the latter beat Japan in the international championship. Meyer is set to become the first American girl to compete in a Little League championship game.

“It’s incredible to see a woman athlete come this far,” says her cousin R.J. Aikey, who was holding a sign that says “Carsynn can do it!” accompanied by the iconic World War II-era photo of Rosie the Riveter. “She’s worked super hard. She’s stressed everything in her body to get here. She’s done it all. She’s a tough girl.”

As youth sports coaches, we want to balance putting our kids in pressure situations with ones in which we know they have a good chance of succeeding. It’s a tough ask at the Little League World Series, where sometimes we expect them to behave like adults on the field.

Sometimes, we have to just take a step back and realize what they’ve accomplished.  

“To sit there and say we’re second in the United States,” said Ohio coach Tim Nichting, whose team will face Japan earlier Sunday in the consolation game. “It’ll be interesting to see how we play tomorrow. Will we have a fire in our belly?

“But what an incredible run. I mean, we had everything. The only thing I hate about this whole trip is a 9 o’clock (a.m.) game. It just seemed like Hamilton was playing every night (before the U.S. semifinals) at 7 o’clock and we got a lot of fans watching. It was quite a great experience. … Maybe we (were) just (a) little tired. They all pitched all week, and in my eyes, it just looked like nobody really had any zip on our fastballs.”

Nichting says he has two kids on his bench who haven’t been in the field at the Little League World Series, where everyone bats. He’ll try to get them some playing time. Edwards, Nevada’s coach, will try to find out more about Curaçao. He tends to wake up early.

Saturday night, he says, was about celebrating what his kids accomplished.

Steve Borelli, aka Coach Steve, has been an editor and writer with USA TODAY since 1999. He played baseball in high school, rowed in college and spent 10 years coaching his two sons’ baseball and basketball teams. He and his wife, Colleen, are now sports parents to a college and high school baseball player. His Coach Steve column is posted weekly. For his past columns, click here.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ‘Win it for Theo’: Happy distraction eases Nevada’s nerves at LLWS