With the recently concluded Little League World Series championship in Williamsport, Pa., there has been a lot of attention towards youth baseball of late.

While El Segundo (Calif.) was winning the LLWSC on the East Coast, another team of young ballplayers also had their time in the spotlight on the other side of the country.

The San Carlos LL 8/10’s made it to the recent Southern California state championship game where they fell to Golden Hill. A second loss in the tourney eliminated the local team. In 2023, 443 All-Star teams throughout Southern California took part in the 8-10 Division (All the boys selected to the San Carlos team were 10 except for one nine-year-old).

Despite not winning the gold, these young athletes accomplished something they can cherish for many years to come.

For starters, they were the first-ever team from San Carlos to have advanced to the state title game.

According to San Carlos Manager Brett Ludwick, the team’s willingness to work hard with absolutely no expectations is one of the things to make them stand out.

“It was clear early on that these kids all love baseball and playing together,” Ludwick commented. “They played each game as if it were a new season, never focusing on their record or the past. I would never tell anyone that we had the most talent or most experience but instead, the most passion to play together day after day. If you are able to keep kids this age engaged after playing baseball every day for two months, there is something pretty special happening.”

As serious as the focus may be on playing and winning, this group of youngsters also have a lighter side to them.

In San Carlos, there is an all-Star toilet bowl, a good luck charm if you will, that gets handed down to the incoming 10u All-Star team each year from the previous year’s All-Star team, according to Ludwick.

“It carries a lot of tradition and it’s an honor to have,” Ludwick remarked. “The toilet is painted green and yellow, San Carlos colors, and all the kids sign it. It goes to all the games and I would say it’s similar to the Stanley Cup but much grimier and weirder. The toilet was stolen out of my truck during a team dinner and created a huge buzz in the community. Turns out, our crosstown rivals had stolen it and were holding it. Everybody knew about it and it actually made for good folklore. We were reaching out pleading to get it back before a big sectional game and it turned up on the pitching mound of our Minors field the day before the game unharmed. We were able to get our good luck charm back and it worked – we won sectionals and advanced to states.”

For Ludwick, the chance to be part of something special this season is something he will not forget anytime soon.

“The biggest highlight for me personally was at the end of the state championship game,” Ludwick stated. “Making it that far, breaking all of our 10u San Carlos records, and spending these moments with such great kids and families was truly the most amazing experience I could have asked for. I am so proud of these boys and all they accomplished.”

Third baseman and pitcher Luke Ludwick will also not forget this season anytime soon.

“One thing that made this team so special is that we all played so well together,” Ludwick said. “It was so fun to break our Little League records and finish as runner-ups in the state championship. We wanted to win it all but taking second place out of 443 All-Star teams in Southern California is pretty legendary. We never gave up, we always fought hard. I loved that about our team.”

Shortstop and pitcher Ryder Karlson (Only player on this year’s 10u All-Star team who made the team last year as a 9-year-old) also felt the season was special, especially due to how the kids connected as teammates and friends.

“We always picked each other up when we were down,” Karlson noted. “We were out there representing not just our team, but our whole Little League family, our neighborhood, and all of San Diego. We wanted to win it for them. And we wanted to represent them in a positive way.”

Alex Manolatos, who played right field, second base and pitched, said the memories of this season will last him a lifetime.

“We came so far – farther than most teams,” Manolatos commented. “I’ll never forget that. It was really fun. I loved playing on this team because all of us are super god, and because we all treated each other like brothers. We all put the team first. Our coaches taught us to play hard, to play together, to never give up, to always try our best – and to take souls.”

For the rest of their lives, these ballplayers can always look back on the accomplishments and history they created in the summer of 2023.