The Coeur d’Alene Little League Majors (12-years old) baseball team didn’t drive 400 miles to get their butts kicked.

Not in the state Little League best-of-3 series against a good West Valley team from Boise.

Nor the 1,300 mile journey to San Bernardino, Calif., that starts on Sunday evening.

“We’ve had most of these kids for the last four to five years,” said Coeur d’Alene coach Sean Cherry. “They’re all talented baseball players. But they’re also hard workers. If you can learn to work hard, you can be a good baseball player. And this group has worked hard over the years, and this year, they put it all together. They’ve put a lot of effort in, and it has all kind of came together.”

After splitting the first two games at state, Coeur d’Alene used a seven-run third inning to get past West Valley in the deciding game on July 22 in Eagle.

“We just said we didn’t drive 400 miles to get our butts kicked,” Cherry said. “These guys were disciplined, darn-good baseball players and they needed to dig deep, fight, kick and scream to take this from West Valley (Boise area). West Valley is a good team. We had a team meeting, and the boys took themselves out amongst themselves and talked about it. They just said that it wasn’t going to be taken from them.”

Braeden Newby, a pitcher and shortstop on the team, said he was a little nervous as the series progressed.

“If we’re tied and the bottom of an inning, I’ll get super nervous,” Newby said. “In the beginning of this year, we started practicing for this in January and we had a fall ball team. We made this journey list to get here, and we finally made it. It’s a super cool feeling.”

Kyle Schwarzer, an outfielder on the team, moved to the area last fall from Scotts Valley, Calif., near Santa Cruz.

“This will be kind of a homecoming for me,” Schwarzer said. “Some of my coaches are coming to watch the games, as well as some of my friends from school. I’m looking forward to that and meeting some of the kids from Hawaii. I’m looking forward to having friendships for life from that.”

Coeur d’Alene faces West Seattle (Washington) on Sunday at 4 p.m. The double-elimination tournament runs through Saturday’s regional championship game.

Opening round games will be streamed on ESPN Plus, with semifinals and finals on ESPN or ESPN2.

“The biggest challenge for us is being nervous and having all the cameras on us,” said first baseman Caleb Symons. “It would feel really good to be in a position to have them on us. We’ve put a lot of time and work into it.”

Cherry’s son, Avery, also plays on the team.

“As a dad and a coach, it’s about the relationships with these kids,” Cherry said. “I look at this as my swan song in coaching after doing this for the last 20 years. This will be my last year, so it’s just a matter of seeing these guys climb a mountain they didn’t think they could get up. Just sharing that with these kids that I’ve known for a long time is worth every second.

The group was paid a visit by members of the 2013 Coeur d’Alene Little League team that advanced to the semifinals that year.

“They really helped us be less nervous about what was going on,” said left fielder Nolan Christ. “They let us know about what’s up ahead, and what we should do when that times come.”

Cherry added it was a learning experience for all involved.

“They were so great giving us their two cents and knowledge looking back at that experience,” Cherry said. “They just told us to go down there, relax, have fun and be 12-year old boys. Play disciplined, but don’t miss the moment and enjoy playing in this rare situation that we’ll be living in for a week. Just go down and enjoy yourself. Go swimming, play whiffle ball and be relaxed.”

Christ added that he’s thought about the experience a little in the time between the state and regional tournament.

“It’s an amazing opportunity for me and this group,” Christ said. “I’m really looking forward to playing in front of a big crowd.”

Teams and coaches will stay on site in barracks with other participating teams and umpires during the tournament. The Little League organization pays for the team to fly from Spokane to San Bernardino, but costs to transport the team’s equipment is not covered.

The program has set up a GoFundMe.com account through its Coeur d’Alene Little League Facebook page to help offset some costs to travel to the tournament.

No matter who is on the field, when and where, Cherry has the confidence in his squad.

“I’d say it’s 13 communicating as one,” Cherry said. “We’re just not the nine that are on the field and four bench players. These guys are interchangeable and I wouldn’t have a problem putting any of these guys into the lineup at any given time. It’s all about communication, hard work and what the coaches have been teaching them. We’re going to go down there, play relaxed and have fun. If we play disciplined and relaxed, nobody in the Northwest can beat you. And now it’s on them.”