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Next stop for Sprague team: Little League World Series

Players from the Sprague Little League team celebrate Saturday as they win the Northwest regional Little League tournament. (Photo courtesy Traci McHenry)

SUNDAY UPDATE: Fundraising site announced for team travels to Pennsylvania. Link is below.

For the first time in the 72-year history of the Little League World Series, a baseball team from Salem will take the field.

The Sprague Little League all-stars earned a trip to Pennsylvania by winning the Northwest regional title on Saturday in San Bernardino, Calif.

The team of 10- to 12-year-olds beat an Idaho team for the second time in the regional competition to take the championship banner.

No team from Salem has made it to the World Series, but Oregon has been represented six times in the series dating back to 1958.

The Saturday afternoon game ended when pitcher Gavin Price got an Idaho player to hit a fast ball for a pop up to right field.

Sprague walked off the field with the 5-4 win and the regional title, adding to its district and state championships.

“It was a real thrill,” said Travis Price, the team manager and father of the pitcher.

The boys didn’t have much time to celebrate the win. They were scheduled to fly out of California at 7 a.m. Sunday, heading for Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

The Sprague team marched through the regional tournament, beating Montana 8-7 on Monday, Aug. 5, and then an Idaho team from Couer d’Alene 8-5 on Thursday, Aug. 8. The team faced that Idaho team again in the title game.

Price said his players were nervous the first game, settled down for the second, and were nervous going into Saturday’s game.

He gathered the team for one last pep talk before taking the field for the nationally-televised game.

“I told them there’s no place I’d rather be them with them right here, right now. I said, ‘Let’s go finish it.”

Price was familiar with the San Bernardino baseball complex – from a distance.

“I’ve had the dugout view from my couch for 10,15 years,” Price said.

The turning point in the title game came in the sixth inning, he said, when Henry Mhoon it a double, got moved to third and then stole home for the go-ahead run.

“Once we took the lead in the sixth, I knew we were in good shape,” Price said.

Idaho out-hit Sprague nine to five, but the Salem squad had some good turns at bat. Besides Henry Mhoon’s double, Gavin Price and Riley Wilson each had doubles and Cameron van Kempen was 2-for-3.

In pitching, Price got the win. He got Sprague out of a jam in the fifth inning, when Idaho loaded the bases with one out. Price got two strikeouts to close out the inning.

For the game, Price pitched 4.1 innings, allowed five hits, had five strikeouts and one walk.

A team from Bend was the last from Oregon to make it to the World Series, but lost its first two games in 2016. Other Oregon teams to make the Pennsylvania trip were Wilshire-Riverside of Portland (2015), Gresham (2012), Lake Oswego (2007) Murrayhill of Beaverton (2006) and Rose City of Portland 1958.

Sprague’s first time on the field in Pennsylvania comes Thursday, Aug. 15, when it faces the Mid-Atlantic regional champion.

Team supporters were setting up a fundraising site to help cover costs of the World Series. A gofundme.com site (support oregon at the little league world series) has been established to raise $20,000.

The full team roster includes: Players on the team include Jacob Hoda, Avery Lohrman, Carson McNally, Henry Mhoon, Andrew Mhoon, Sullivan Puckett, Gavin Price, Aeden Saele, Spencer Shortis, Brady Strenke, Tommy VanBishler, Cameron van Kempen and Riley Wilson. 

Pitcher Gavin Price unloads on an Idaho batter Saturday at the Northwest regional Little League tournament. (Photo courtesy Traci McHenry)

Players from the Sprague Little League team celebrate Saturday as they win the Northwest regional Little League tournament. (Photo courtesy Traci McHenry)

A player from the Sprague Little League team at the plate in the Northwest regional title game Saturday in California. (Photo courtesy Traci McHenry)

Sprague all-star baseball team, representing Oregon, poses with its newly-won title banner on Saturday in California. (Photo courtesy of Little League Baseball and Softball)

Les Zaitz: [email protected] or @leszaitz.