WILLIAMSPORT, PA — Hamilton West Side's Little League World Series run ended Sunday with a 3-2 loss to Japan in the tournament's third-place game in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
The Great Lakes team had one final chance to take the field at Howard J. Lamade Stadium after falling to Nevada in Saturday's U.S. championship game.
Hamilton's loss to Japan capped a historic run for the West Side Little League team, which made its sixth appearance at the Little League World Series. The team also became the first Ohio team since 2021 to reach the U.S. championship game.
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For Brion Treadway, the parent of West Side pitcher Boone Treadway, the experience meant more than the scoreboard.
“I don’t know how you can be at this place and have the experiences that we had and not just be a core memory for everyone,” Treadway said.
Treadway said he was proud of how the team handled the spotlight and the adversity throughout the tournament.
“I’m gonna tell him I love him and I’m so proud of him,” Treadway said of what he planned to tell Boone after the game.
Hamilton's run also brought an outpouring of support from back home, with watch parties and messages of encouragement from the community following the team throughout its time in Williamsport.
That support was something the families said they felt even from hundreds of miles away.
Claire Frazier, whose son Bob played for Hamilton, said the players had made sacrifices throughout the summer to reach this stage.
“They have put in so much work,” Frazier said. “Since our All-Star season started in June, they’ve had one day off this whole time.”
Justin, another Hamilton parent, said much of that work happens away from the spotlight.
“What goes unseen is the amount of work they put in throughout the summer,” he said. “They’ve given up being a kid to practice every day.”
But the parents said the experience was worth it.
“You just can’t trade an experience like this, and they’re just making these lifelong memories,” Frazier said.
For Hamilton West Side, those memories now come with a third-place finish at the Little League World Series, and a summer that brought the community together around a group of 12-year-olds on the world's biggest Little League stage.
