WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — The expectations are different at West Side Little League.
State championships are part of the program’s history. And so are trips to Williamsport.
The 2026 team added to both.
West Side won its 23rd Ohio championship, swept through the Great Lakes Regional and reached the Little League World Series for a U.S.-record sixth time. Once there, Hamilton turned an opening-round loss into one of the deepest runs in program history.
West Side won five consecutive elimination games, reached the United States championship and finished among the final four teams in the world before closing its summer with a 3-2 loss to Japan in the third-place game Sunday.
From the Ohio tournament through Williamsport, West Side went 13-3.
Its journey nearly ended much earlier.
West Side trailed Canfield 3-2 entering the bottom of the sixth inning of the Ohio championship game in Boardman. Walker Osborne and Finn Dykes reached before Caiden Trent lined a ball into right field, scoring both runners for a 4-3 walk-off victory.
Manager Tim Nichting’s team went 4-0 at state and carried that momentum to the Great Lakes Regional in Whitestown, Indiana.
West Side beat Michigan 10-4, Indiana 11-0 and Kentucky 11-4 before facing Kentucky again for the championship.
Josiah Infante hit a two-run homer and Dykes delivered a bases-clearing triple during a six-run first inning. Boone Treadway threw a one-hit shutout with nine strikeouts in a 6-0 victory.
“Feels amazing,” Treadway told ESPN. “I’m just glad to get to do it with this group of kids.”
West Side finished the regional 4-0 and outscored opponents 38-8.
For the sixth time — 1991, 1993, 2007, 2010, 2021 and 2026 — West Side was headed to Williamsport.
FIVE TIMES ON THE BRINK
One game into the Little League World Series, West Side was already playing for its season.
Nevada rallied from a 5-2 deficit to beat Hamilton 6-5 on a walk-off single in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Lose again and West Side was going home.
It responded by winning five straight elimination games.
West Side beat Massachusetts 10-0 behind a combined no-hitter from Infante and Leo Feltner, then defeated Texas 6-1 as Bob Frazier worked 4 2/3 scoreless innings.
Treadway struck out eight as Hamilton beat New Jersey 5-2. West Side followed with an 11-2 victory over Alabama.
Less than 12 hours later, Hamilton beat Iowa 7-1 behind Frazier’s bases-loaded triple and a complete game from Osborne.
Five elimination games.
Five wins.
West Side outscored those opponents 39-6 and earned another shot at Nevada — this time in the U.S. championship.
Nichting was awake well before sunrise.
“Me, I’m a little jacked up today,” he said. “I’m that Type A guy, up by 5 in the morning just trying to figure out what to do. Took a walk around here just to try to relax.”
His players had a different approach.
They slept until about 8 a.m., ate breakfast and took batting practice.
“Kids are just being kids,” Nichting said.
He dismissed the idea that the rematch was about revenge.
“It’s nothing like that,” Nichting said. “To me, it’s just another game on our schedule. We’ve been on such a roll right now. I like where we are.”
Back home, Hamilton had become consumed by the run.
Restaurants filled for games. Families gathered around televisions. In Williamsport, Great Lakes merchandise became so popular that adult T-shirts sold out at Little League’s flagship store.
“I know that at home everything’s crazy,” Nichting said. “All the places are packed up watching. It’s probably crazy at home. To me, wow, this is awesome.”
After 43 years around West Side, even Nichting struggled to put the experience into perspective.
“I’ve hit the peak, right?” he said. “This is crazy for me. I think it’s crazy for my kids. I think it’s crazy for Hamilton.”
Assistant coach Chris Hilton understood the moment from another perspective.
Hilton played on West Side’s first Williamsport team in 1991.
Thirty-five years later, he returned as a coach with his son, Zach, on the field.
“I’ve never forgotten those days,” Hilton said. “But 30 years down the road, you really look at it a lot different today and appreciate it much more.”
The summer also changed their relationship.
“Seeing him in a different light and a different atmosphere and seeing him adapt to it has been really cool,” Hilton said.
Hilton wondered if the cycle might repeat itself.
“Maybe he’ll be coaching his own kid here someday and I’ll be sitting in the stands,” he said.
West Side’s rematch with Nevada didn’t go as planned.
Nevada won 12-2 in five innings to claim the U.S. championship.
Hamilton’s world championship hopes were over.
But one more game remained.
Japan.
ONE LAST INNING
West Side had spent its summer surviving.
Sunday morning, it came within two outs of finishing it with one more victory.
Nichting wasn’t sure what his players would have left after the emotional loss to Nevada.
“This is crazy to sit here and say we’re second in the United States,” Nichting said. “It’ll be interesting to see how we play tomorrow. Will we have any fire in our belly?
“But no, what an incredible run.”
Treadway answered the question on the mound.
He shut out Japan through five innings before West Side gave him a lead.
Infante and Frazier reached in the fourth and Xander Kinkade drove both home with a double to right.
West Side led 2-0 entering the bottom of the sixth.
Treadway recorded an out before reaching his pitch limit. He left after 5 1/3 scoreless innings with five strikeouts.
Japan rallied after his departure.
One run scored.
Then another.
With the game tied, Ayumu Hasegawa dropped a bunt that brought home the winning run.
Japan 3, West Side 2.
West Side’s World Series had begun with a walk-off loss to Nevada.
It ended the same way against Japan.
In between came a run Hamilton won’t soon forget.
West Side went 4-0 at the Ohio tournament, 4-0 at the Great Lakes Regional and 5-3 in Williamsport. Treadway also drew 10 walks at the World Series, setting a tournament record.
The numbers tell only part of the story.
For nearly the entire summer, 12 players practiced, traveled and played together. Their families said the team received only one day off after All-Star play began in June.
“What goes unseen is the amount of work they put in throughout the summer,” Bryson Williams’ father, Justin, said. “They’ve given up being a kid to practice every day.”
In return, they experienced Williamsport, Lamade Stadium, national television and five consecutive elimination victories.
They became one of the final four teams in the world.
“What an incredible run,” Nichting said. “We had everything.”
Soon, the players will return to the West Side fields where the journey began.
The history will still be there.
Twenty-three Ohio championships.
Six trips to Williamsport.
And now 2026.
Years from now, Hilton’s son might understand the experience the way his father does now. Another generation will hear about the team that lost its first World Series game, won five straight elimination games and was still playing on the tournament’s final day.
West Side arrived in Williamsport with generations of success behind it.
It returned to Hamilton having added to it.
And the next generation will look at 1991, 1993, 2007, 2010, 2021 and 2026 — and dream about becoming Team No. 7.
