Hamilton, Ohio's West Side Little League is one game away from the Little League World Series after erupting for nine runs in a single inning to beat Kentucky's North Oldham 11-4 on August 10. The rematch for the Great Lakes Region championship is set for this afternoon, broadcast on ESPN2, with a trip to Williamsport, Pennsylvania on the line.
West Side represents Ohio in the Great Lakes Region and will face North Oldham again in the championship game, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. In their semifinal meeting, West Side fell behind 3-1 after the first inning before the offense broke the game open, per the same report. Leo Feltner delivered an RBI double, Boone Treadway tripled home two runs, Xander Kinkade blasted a two-run home run, and Josiah Infante added another RBI double during the decisive second-inning outburst.
Bryson Williams closed out the win on the mound, throwing 3.2 innings while allowing just two hits and one run and striking out two batters, the Enquirer reported. The victory followed lopsided wins over Michigan and Indiana in West Side's first two tournament rounds, extending a dominant run through the Little League Central Region Complex in Whitestown, Indiana, which opened in 2021 as the permanent home of Great Lakes and Midwest regional play, according to Unpage Publications.
North Oldham's Own Comeback Story
West Side's opponent did not arrive at the championship game quietly either. North Oldham advanced by beating Jasper National 8-5 on August 11, rallying from a 4-1 deficit and scoring seven runs across two innings following a weather delay, the Enquirer reported. Kentucky brings serious regional pedigree to the matchup, having produced eight Great Lakes Region champions since the format was established in 2001 — the most of any state in the region, according to Wikipedia.
Boone Treadway, who struck out six batters and pitched 2.2 scoreless innings against Indiana in his last outing, is set to start on the mound for West Side in the championship, per the Enquirer. Treadway is the son of Brion Treadway, the head coach at Badin High School, who guided the Rams to the 2026 Ohio Division II state championship in June, as reported by The Report Ohio. The younger Treadway's dual role as ace pitcher and clutch hitter this postseason echoes the family's baseball pedigree in Hamilton.
A Program Built for This Moment
West Side enters the championship as a 23-time Ohio state champion, a total tied for the second-most 12U state titles won by any single Little League program in the country, per TV Hamilton. The program has reached Williamsport five times in its 74-year history, with appearances in 1991, 1993, 2007, 2010 and 2021, according to West Side Little League. West Side's deepest run came in 2021, when the team won the U.S. Tom Seaver bracket and finished national runner-up after a 5-2 loss to Taylor, Michigan, as documented by Cincinnati Magazine.
That 2021 World Series ultimately ended with a championship-game loss to Michigan in Williamsport, a defeat that came after West Side had beaten Illinois the previous year in the same rematch scenario now facing this year's squad against North Oldham. Manager Tim Nichting, who began coaching at West Side in 1983, previously led Hamilton teams to the Little League World Series in both 2007 and 2010, giving this year's coaching staff direct experience navigating the exact pressure of a regional final.
What Awaits the Winner in Williamsport
Hamilton's ties to Little League glory run deeper than the current roster. West Side won the 2025 Ohio state championship and was escorted home by sheriff's patrol after capturing that title. Whichever team wins this afternoon's championship will advance to the 79th Little League World Series, running from August 19 to August 30 in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, a 20-team field made up of 10 U.S. regional champions and 10 international champions competing in double elimination, according to Wikipedia.
The Great Lakes Region champion will open World Series play against the Mountain Region champion on August 20 in Williamsport. For a Hamilton program that has already proven it belongs among the nation's Little League powers, one more win over North Oldham on ESPN2 would punch the program's sixth ticket to South Williamsport.
