Another experience of a lifetime

Last January, well before traveling to San Bernardino for the Little League Northwest Regional baseball tournament, Cooper Erickson had a vision.

When customizing his baseball cleats for the upcoming season, Erickson wrote San Bernardino in one shoe, Williamsport in the other.

Then the dream became a reality, advancing along with his Coeur d’Alene teammates to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. last August.

“It all happened really fast,” Cooper Erickson said. “It was kind of out of the blue. After we won the regional title, it didn’t feel real. When we first got to LAX (Los Angeles International Airport), it started to feel real. It got to the point where we dreaded the moment where we’d have to come home because we wanted to stay with the team because we were having so much fun.”

While in Williamsport, Erickson was able to meet and get autographs from Rhys Hoskins of the Philadelphia Phillies, as well as Jacob deGrom and Jose Bautista of the New York Mets.

The players from Coeur d’Alene returned home just in time for school to resume in late August.

“The first week of school was a little different,” said Erickson, an eighth-grade student at Canfield Middle School. “But after that, things kind of went back to normal. The first week, kids were coming up to me asking how it was and what the whole experience was like. They’d ask about what autographs I got and what it was like playing on those fields.”

At regionals, as well as in Williamsport, Erickson and his teammates formed a bond with the team from Hawaii, which ended up winning the championship.

“It was awesome,” Erickson said. “We hung out with them after the championship game and were talking with them. They were stunned they won it all because they were so nervous for that championship game. We still play Fortnite with them.”

This August, Erickson will get another chance at playing at a national level, playing for the United States team in the Latin American Baseball Classic Aug. 2-6 in the Dominican Republic. Erickson was the lone player selected for the Under-14 team that held tryouts at The Warehouse in Spokane in December.

“My club coach brought it up at practice, so I was wondering what it was all about,” Erickson said. “I thought it was a cool opportunity and told my coach I’d ask my parents about it.”

Chris Reynolds and Chase Saunders, teammates of Erickson’s on the Coeur d’Alene Little League team, also tried out at Gonzaga.

“When I first walked in, I was really nervous because there was a lot of people there,” Erickson said. “It was kind of crazy to see that. I didn’t do as well as I wanted in Williamsport, so I used that as motivation to get back to the national level to show them what I’ve got.”

Former Major League pitcher Jim Parque made the selections for the team.

“Jim goes across the country and creates teams to compete in the Latin America Baseball Classic,” Ernie Erickson, Cooper’s dad said. “What was neat as parents was this was a non-bias opinion. He didn’t know Cooper and chose Cooper because he knew he could compete against other kids across the country. Cooper really beat himself up for his performance during the postseason, and it was one of those things that it was a motivitational thing and spirit lifter. He was down in the dumps when he got back from Williamsport, but to get another chance to show his talent to someone was huge for him.”

The tournament will be in Santo Domingo July 31 to Aug. 6.

“It’s a heck of an opportunity,” Ernie Erickson said. “It’s not a sport there, it’s a religion. And the experience — and there’s no guarantee to play — is going to be great for him. It’s going to be a really good opportunity to see the different level of players and money. For him to have a chance to go see that, it’s going to be an experience of a lifetime.”