The scoreboard says Soundview Little League's run at the Little League World Series ended Tuesday.
But what a run it was.
Tacoma's Northwest Region champions were eliminated from the tournament in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, after a 4-2 loss to Phenix City Youth Baseball Little League of Alabama. Soundview finished its first Little League World Series appearance with a 2-2 record.
And fittingly, they didn't go quietly.
Alabama jumped ahead early and carried a 3-0 lead into the fourth inning. Soundview finally broke through in the top of the fourth, getting its first hit of the game and pushing across a run on a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 3-1. Alabama answered in the bottom half to make it 4-1.
Tacoma's kids still weren't finished.
Soundview entered the sixth and final inning trailing by three and managed to make things interesting one last time. Tacoma scored to pull within 4-2 and eventually brought the potential tying run to second base. Kasen Workman — whose two-run single had beaten this same Alabama team in Soundview's World Series opener — came to the plate with a chance to keep the rally going. This time, Alabama got the final out.
The loss brought an end to a remarkable few weeks of baseball for a team of kids from Tacoma.
Soundview didn't simply qualify for Williamsport. They arrived and won. In their opening game, Tacoma beat Alabama 2-0 in seven innings, with Workman's two-run single breaking a scoreless tie. Then Soundview knocked off Texas 4-3, becoming one of the early 2-0 teams in the tournament.
A 5-0 loss to Nevada on Sunday sent Soundview into the elimination side of the bracket and set up Tuesday's rematch with Alabama. This time Alabama got its revenge, ending Tacoma's run.
There was even a little history made in Tuesday's game. Alabama's Kinley Rasmus collected two hits and set the Little League World Series record for most hits by a girl, according to Little League's official game recap.
But for Tacoma, the lasting story isn't Tuesday's 4-2 score.
It's that a team from Soundview Little League represented Tacoma as Northwest Region champions on youth baseball's biggest stage. Kids back home watched players they knew and had competed against play on national television. One local youth player told KIRO News earlier in the tournament that Soundview's success was inspiring other kids to go out and practice harder.
Soundview gave Tacoma four World Series games to follow, two victories to celebrate and one heck of a reason to be proud.
They may be coming home without the championship trophy, but they're coming home as Northwest Region champions and Little League World Series players.
That's something nobody can take away from them.
Congratulations, Soundview. You represented Tacoma well!
There’s more in today’s Tacoma Local Minute.
Catch the rest of today’s local news, events, and updates in the full issue here.