THE FRONT ROW WITH ERIC PLUMMER: Sunday, August 16, 2015

I tuned into ESPN on Saturday just in time to see the Idaho coach, from West Valley Little League in Eagle, come out to remove his pitcher late in a one-sided loss to Oregon at the Northwest Regionals, a berth to Williamsport, Penn., and the Little League World Series on the line.

The coach was wearing a microphone, which caught the pitcher's sobs as the two embraced, before coach told him everything was O.K. and that he loved him. Turns out coach was also dad in this situation, part of what makes Little League so great, and I'll admit, my eyes glistened.

Little League is 75 years old, and going as strong as ever. It turns out my days as a Little League coach are officially over, completing a journey that started nine years ago with T-ball and ended recently at the Junior All-Star Regional Tournament in Vancouver, Wash.

And what a ride it was, having the unique opportunity to coach on my son's teams each year along the way. It's hard to say who had more fun, or even who learned more, for that matter.

The Sandpoint Junior (13-14 year-olds) All-Star team had the chance to represent Idaho last week at the Western Regionals in Vancouver, putting their skills to the test against some of the top youth players in the country from 11 Western state champions.

After beating Post Falls and Lakeland to win districts, Sandpoint swept Nampa in the state final to earn a spot in the Regionals, where they drew a brutally tough pool play draw against Arizona, Oregon, Southern California and Washington.

Sandpoint lost all four games, but put a big scare into the Arizona champs from Nogales, who won the Intermediate Little League World Series the previous year on ESPN. The game was scoreless heading into the fifth inning before Nogales rallied for an 11-1 win.

AS THE first base coach, I had a front row seat to everything that makes Little League baseball so great.

There were also a few things that serves as learning points, like a batter hitting a comebacker to the pitcher, then walking back to his dugout and tossing his bat instead of running to first. Or a baserunner scoring from second on a double and walking the last 15 feet across the plate. Or a first baseman admonishing his teammate's for their mistakes.

Luckily, none of those players had Sandpoint written on the front of their jerseys. Despite not winning a game, Sandpoint played the game right, and our hustle and spirited play earned the respect of the opposing coaches, one of whom was former Dodger and Cub All-Star first baseman Eric Karros, a coach on the Manhattan Beach juggernaut representing Southern California. Matching wits against a former National League Rookie of the Year, how cool is that?

Oddly enough, Sandpoint ended up becoming good friends and hanging out most with the players from Nogales, an all-Hispanic team that had to navigate a 13 team state tournament in Arizona just to get to Vancouver.

Opposites must attract, as one team hails from an hour south of the Canadian border and the other from the Arizona/Mexico border. Or maybe they weren't really that opposite, just 13 and 14 year-olds who love baseball.

The teams hung out around the swimming pool, played whiffle ball in the hotel parking lot and threw the football around when they weren't playing baseball, activities they'll probably remember more than the games decades from now.

In a twist of fate, Nogales ended up becoming Idaho's biggest fans, needing us to beat Washington in the final game to help them advance out of pool play. They chanted "Let's go Idaho" and used various noisemakers, but Washington, one of the sleeper teams in the tournament, won by the 10 run rule to end both Idaho and Arizona's tournaments.

ONE OF the highlights of the trip was when a Nogales player approached Sandpoint's Alex Stockton, who was watching the previous game from the stands before his scheduled start later against Washington, and offered up some friendly advice.

"Alex, stay out of the sun bro," advised the Nogales player. "We need you fresh for Washington."

It marked the second straight year Sandpoint manager Kurt Stockton has taken a team to the Junior Regionals, part of another stellar year for North Idaho at the state-wide level, with a host of panhandle teams faring well.

Former North Idaho College baseball coach Paul Manzardo has taken a couple of Coeur d'Alene Little League teams to the Northwest Regionals in San Bernardino in recent years, falling just short of advancing to Williamsport, the birth of Little League 75 years ago. Manzardo is also a damn good football and basketball official, who has called a lot of games in Sandpoint over the years.

Dustin Pfennigs took a Post Falls team to the regional final in 2012 before they lost. It's a safe bet some North Idaho teams will make another run at Williamsport in the future, as well.

Like all good things, Little League eventually ends, and its players segue to the high school and American Legion levels.

Eric Plummer is the Sports editor of the Daily Bee in Sandpoint. For comments, story ideas or suggestions, he can be reached at "[email protected]."