They say the kids are the first to forget a tough loss, and that may or may not be the case with this year’s Coeur d’Alene Little League all-star team.

But as for the manager ...

“Well, I’m not sure I’m totally over it just yet,” Robin Franklin said with a laugh Tuesday afternoon, some 72 hours after Coeur d’Alene came within one out — ONE OUT — of making it to the Little League World Series. It would have marked the second straight year a team from Coeur d’Alene had advanced to Williamsport, after it had never happened before last year.

But Sprague Little League of Salem, Ore., scored two runs with two out in the top of the sixth inning — including the tying run on a controversial play — and went on for a 5-4 victory in the Northwest Regional championship game last Saturday in San Bernardino, Calif.

“It was tough,” Franklin said. “We were pretty challenged in taking care of the baseball last week. It was a little uncharacteristic of our team; we usually do a pretty good job of taking care of the baseball. We had a couple games there where, honestly, we just didn’t take care of the baseball. It was one of those situations where if we didn’t put a ton of runs on the board it was going to come back to haunt us, and it did.”

ABOUT THAT play ...

A Sprague player had doubled with one out, and advanced to third on a groundout to the pitcher.

That appeared to be it for the play, but with the Coeur d’Alene pitcher on the mound waiting for the next batter and the catcher away from home plate, talking to the umpire, the runner from third suddenly dashed home to tie the game.

ESPN’s cameras even missed it live.

“It all happened pretty quick,” Franklin recalled. “I was in the dugout, pacing as you can probably imagine (one out from Williamsport), and I just heard screaming and I looked up and saw the kid crossing the plate.

My coaches indicated to me that it was a dead ball. I saw that the umpires had moved into a dead ball position.

The home plate umpire had been talking to our catcher, so I went out and told him I thought it was a dead ball, and he disagreed, and I said ‘I don’t understand, you’re standing there with your catcher’s mask under your arm, dead ball, pitcher steps out in front of the plate and next thing you know, all heck breaks loose. There’s a lot of different opinions on what went happened.”

Days later, Franklin chose to take the high road.

“It all goes back to taking care of the baseball, and we just didn’t do it,” he said. “It’s unfortunate.”

THE CORE of this Coeur d’Alene team has played together for three years — a few of them for four years. As a 10U team, Cd’A lost in the state playoffs, then won the state 11U title last year and won again this year in the 12U division.

Franklin, 54, coached this group — which includes his son, Tanner — all three years.

Franklin has been in the grocery industry for three decades, mostly in Southern California. He and his family — including one of his two daughters — moved from Corona, Calif., to Coeur d’Alene in 2014. His oldest daughter played competitive softball, and he coached her teams.

“I come from a large family with four brothers; we all played Little League,” Franklin said. “My parents were longtime Little League volunteers. I spent my life growing up on a Little League field.”

A lifelong Angels fan, Franklin grew up in Anaheim, not far from the Angels’ stadium. He was in the ballpark when the Angels beat the San Francisco Giants to win the 2002 World Series.

“It was one of the best days of my life,” he said.

His brother in law is the equipment manager for the Angels, so while the Coeur d’Alene team was in nearby San Bernardino, he gave Robin’s team a tour of the stadium.

“I think the thing I’ll remember is how close they were as a team,” Franklin said of this Coeur d’Alene group. “They never fought with each other, they never pointed fingers at each other, they were also very caring and literally like brothers to each other. That’s what I’ll remember the most.”

FRANKLIN SAID the support along the way from the Coeur d’Alene community was “overwhelming.” Coaches and parents from past Coeur d’Alene teams that made it to San Bernardino offered advice on what to expect there, which helped.

“It would have been a nightmare without their help,” he said. “I don’t know how some of these teams that have never been there, that don’t have any guidance, do it.”

“I don’t know what kind of support other teams got from their community, but ours was top notch,” he said.

At regionals and at Williamsport, managers are routinely miked for television. Franklin chose not to for Coeur d’Alene’s first game in San Bernardino.

“The first game I didn’t do it because I didn’t want to do it,” he explained. “As a coach, you get excited at times ... I wasn’t sure that was something I wanted ESPN hearing. Then I thought about it for a little while, and I thought, ‘Why not, everybody else is doing it.’

“After the first time it wasn’t a big deal. They assured me there’s a delay — if something that comes out of your mouth that shouldn’t, it doesn’t get aired on TV.”

Since USA Baseball essentially “deadened” the bats for youth baseball beginning with the 2018 season, Little League tournament games are far from the home run derbies they were starting to become. Coeur d’Alene hit just one dinger this year in four games in San Bernardino — though Franklin also noted fences there and at Williamsport are 225 feet, compared to 200 feet up here.

In any event, he said his team might have played a little more “small ball” than teams in the past, but that was also because runs are at more of a premium as the opposition gets better. But this Coeur d’Alene team was deep in hitters anyway, with eight of the regulars hitting .333 or better in San Bernardino.

Coeur d’Alene would have headed straight to Williamsport had it won in San Bernardino — just like last year’s Cd’A squad, a whole different team with its 13 players and three coaches.

“We watched what they did last year, and boy, it was pretty amazing. It was kinda overwhelming,” Franklin said. “We took it as, ‘Look at what these kids did ... why not us? Why can’t we do it too?’”

As for next year, some of these players may stick together on a 13U team, as many of last year’s Cd’A players did on Coeur d’Alene’s American Legion team. Some may choose the travel ball route, or other avenues.

AS IT turns out, Robin and Tanner Franklin are headed to Williamsport anyway.

With his son aging out of Little League, Robin, his wife Tina, and Tanner had already planned a trip back East for this week. As part of that trip, they plan to spend a couple days at the Little League World Series.

“It’s kind of a goodbye to Little League for us,” Robin said. “I’m not sure how I’m going to feel when I get there.”

They had hoped to be joined by 12 other boys and the other two coaches, but ...

“I was prepared for it. I was hoping it was going to happen,” Robin said. “I don’t think I’ve processed it all yet. All the messages and well-wishes we got after Saturday were just overwhelming. I think one day the kids will be able to look back and be proud of what they did. Because they had a great run, and almost made it happen.”

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.