WILLIAMSPORT, Pennsylvania — Hamilton West Side's run toward a Little League World Series title came to an end Saturday with a 12-2 loss to Nevada in the U.S. championship game.
But the Hamilton, Ohio, team isn't heading home just yet.
Hamilton West Side will play Japan at 10 a.m. Sunday in the Little League World Series third-place game at Howard J. Lamade Stadium.
The loss ended Hamilton West Side's chance to play for the world championship, but the team has one more opportunity to take the field in Williamsport.
For the parents supporting the team, the experience has become about more than the games.
Three and a half miles from Howard J. Lamade Stadium sits the Mountaineer Lounge, a restaurant that has become a gathering place for Hamilton West Side families throughout the tournament.
Claire Frazier, whose son Bob is an outfielder for the team, said the families have made the restaurant part of their routine before and after games.
“We call it church,” Frazier said.
The families have embraced the routine, ordering the same food and even washing and re-wearing the same clothes for each game.
Claire's husband, Jeremy Frazier, said Hamilton West Side did not visit the Mountaineer Lounge before its first game against Henderson, which the team lost.
Since then, the families have kept the ritual going.
“We didn't come here the first game that we lost, and we've come here before and after every other game and we're 5-0 since we've been doing that,” Frazier said before Saturday's game.
The superstition did not change the outcome against Nevada, but the families plan to keep their tradition going regardless.
“Win or lose, we will probably be here for dinner, and later than that, I'm sure,” Frazier said.
Behind the routines and superstitions appears to be a group of parents who are proud of how much their children have sacrificed to reach Williamsport.
“What goes unseen is the amount of work they put in throughout the summer,” Hamilton West Side parent Justin Williams said. “They've given up being a kid to practice every day.”
Frazier said the players have had just one day off since their All-Star season began in June.
The experience, she said, is something the families will remember long after the final game.
“You just can't trade an experience like this, and they're just making these lifelong memories,” Frazier said.
Hamilton West Side will return to Howard J. Lamade Stadium at 10 a.m. Sunday to face Japan for third place in the Little League World Series.
