More than 16 hours after the Eastside 12-and-under baseball team left Honolulu, the players finally checked into their hotel in Aberdeen, Md., site of the Cal Ripken World Series.

After a grueling trip that included stops at four different airports, the coaching staff could sit back and relax for a while, right?

"We looked at the kids and they were wired," head coach Charles McNicoll said. "They were excited so much that we ate lunch and then went straight to the Ripken fields to check them out.

"They didn’t go to sleep until like 8:30 that night."

It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the 14 kids who make up the Eastside team that won the Cal Ripken Pacific Southwest Regional 13 days ago at Central Oahu Regional Park.

A walk-off victory against Northwest Bakersfield earned the team a trip to the World Series, making Eastside the fourth team from Hawaii to do so in the last nine years.

The team received its uniforms and helmets on Thursday and will open pool play against the Hudson (N.H.) All-Stars, winners of the New England regional, Saturday at 8:30 a.m. Hawaii time.

"For the most part we’re going in blind and don’t really know what we got until we start playing (the other teams)," McNicoll said. "We know they’re good, but after the first game we can sit down and watch the rest of the teams."

Eastside is one of five teams in the American division of United States play. The top two teams from the American and National divisions advance to the U.S. semifinals on Aug. 19 with the U.S. championship following the next day.

The U.S. winner will meet the International champion on Aug. 21 for the world title.

McNicoll has taken teams featuring a lot of the same players to tournaments in Las Vegas the past couple of years.

Already, he can tell there’s a much different feeling toward this one.

"You can sense it’s a more prestigious tournament as compared to some of the regular Memorial Day tournaments," he said. "The kids can feel it, too, and it’s our job that as excited as they get, to keep them grounded but at the same time make sure they enjoy the ride.

"It’s fun, but we’re also here to try to win a World Series."

The first Cal Ripken World Series was held in 2003. A team from Hilo that included former Hawaii All-American Kolten Wong, a first-round selection of the St. Louis Cardinals in June’s MLB First-Year Player Draft, won the U.S. championship, before losing to Mexico.

Hawaii teams advanced to the World Series in each of the next two seasons, with Oahu (Honolulu) winning it all in 2005.

Eastside is the first team from Hawaii to make the World Series since.

Members of Eastside’s team are: Nicolas Benner, Blaine DeMello, Dustin Imanaka, Dayne Ishigo, Isaac Kimura, Jarin Kobashigawa, Zackary Kon, Micah McNicoll, Robert Phelps, Kaimana Souza-Paaluhi, Kohl Suehiro, Trevin Tengan, Michael Viola, Ryne Yamashiro.

Charles McNicoll’s assistant coaches are Matt DeMello and Kailua High School coach Corey Ishigo.

Games are available to view online for $9.95 between Aug. 12 and 19 at crws.ripkenbaseball.com/watch/.

The United States, International and World championship games will be shown live on the MLB Network.