Graney: Paseo Verde will take home Little League World Series memories of magical place

They will remember the lights and scenes and sounds. They will remember it as a magical place because it is.

Paseo Verde might not have won a Little League World Series championship Sunday, but it won’t for a lifetime alter the experience of advancing to South Williamsport, Pa.

Nothing does.

The kids from Henderson fell to Curaçao 11-2 in the final — one day after claiming the United States championship.

It’s the second straight year a team from Nevada reached the last day — Summerlin South claimed its own U.S. title in 2025 – and that says a whole lot about the level of youth baseball being played and coached in these parts.

But there is far more to the World Series than what happens between the lines. Far more to take with you upon departing.

I covered the Little League World Series when Mountain Ridge advanced in 2014 and Henderson in 2023, and quickly came to know the pageantry such an event owned.

How massive a deal it was in South Williamsport, both to the competing teams and those who hosted the tournament.

And that’s even before ESPN makes its own mark on things.

Every kid’s dream

“You know, it’s about the whole thing, really,” said Ryan Gifford, who managed Henderson Little League to its place in the World Series three years ago. “Just the enormity of it and being able to be there. It’s every kid’s dream, including mine when I was a kid. It’s just an amazing experience from the beginning.

“It’s one of those things kids will remember the rest of their lives. Specific games. Being around such a wonderful place. They’ll hang onto that forever.”

The same will hold true with Paseo Verde, which played some terrific baseball to reach such a point. But the team from Curaçao was too much Sunday.

Too much hitting. Too much pitching. Too much of everything.

It won’t and shouldn’t put any sort of blemish on the Paseo Verde run. This is too special a moment to be stained in any manner. Too special a venue. Too special an experience for players and coaches and friends and family.

A group of 12-year-olds from this state again rank as the nation’s best Little League team.

Something of which to be very proud.

Somewhere behind the crowds in excess of 40,000 at wondrous Lamade Stadium and the TV contract worth tens of millions of dollars and the corporate giant that is the Little League World Series, there still exists those who understand the innocence of this level of baseball.

Someone who can grasp how memorable such a time should be for those playing.

“The field is spectacular, the town of Williamsport and the people there are wonderful, and the spirit is contagious,” said TJ Fechser, who managed Summerlin South to its World Series appearance. “You can’t beat it.

“It has been so much fun watching this summer and watching Paseo Verde go for it. We know all these kids. We’re friends. We’re a very tight community, so this is just awesome stuff. It’s not what you expect from watching it on TV. There is a joy to it.”

It is the birthplace of Little League, a spot where memories are made and dreams realized. Sure. You want to win it all. That’s the competitive nature of sports.

Rite of passage

But it’s important to experience all that is the World Series, because it’s a long journey to get there. It can be a long three months.

Districts. State. Regionals. All stages from which one must advance for the right to reach South Williamsport, to embrace the entire experience.

I was there to see Mountain Ridge and Henderson do so and am sure the same held true for Paseo Verde in 2024 and Summerlin South and now Paseo Verde again.

“It’s bittersweet in a way regardless of how things go,” Fechser said. “For most of these kids, this is the last Little League moment there is. There’s no more Little League for the 12-year-olds.

“It’s sort of a rite of passage moment, a sad one but also a joyful one. You can look back and see what you created, and it’s wonderful.”

It really is.