Meet the families behind the Pierce County team playing in the Little League World Series

Carol Workman, Darcie Santman and Sierra Baker could not sit still during the last Bonney Lake-Sumner 12-and-under Little League all-stars game. All three women, whose husbands make up the team’s coaching staff, were antsy as their sons took the field in San Bernadino, California.

Workmans’s son, Parker, had pitched one of his finest games of the season against the squad from Bend North: four innings, five strikeouts, one hit and zero runs. But the BLS team found itself down by a run as it entered the 6th and final inning.

“I just kept moving back, I was pacing,” Workman said in a phone call with The News Tribune. “We’re in the stands stressing out more than the kids were. They were way more calm.”

After BLS tied the game in the 6th and won it in an extra inning, the three women wrapped their arms around each other. For a moment, all they could think about was how happy they were as their sons advanced to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

That uninterrupted bliss lasted for a few seconds for Workman and Santman. Both women are teachers. Workman teaches preschool at Mountain View Coop in Milton, and Santman teaches elementary school in the Auburn School District. Both planned to use this week to prepare their classrooms for the new year.

“I just looked at [Santman], and I was like, ‘OK, we can’t think about work right now,’” Workman said. “We’re just gonna have to do it all when we get back.”

When the BLS squad takes the field Wednesday in Williamsport, it will be the third state it has played in the last five weeks. After sweeping the state tournament in Lynwood and Everett, the boys and their families had a few days of rest before traveling to San Bernadino. With some financial support from an online fundraiser, most of the entourage flew to an airport near the field. To get some of the team’s larger equipment to Southern California, Workman opted for the 19 hour drive.

In addition to showing love and support at the games, the players’ parents were responsible for behind-the-scenes work like preparing snacks and organizing downtime activities.

“This round [the parents] have gotten so stinking close,” Baker said. “Everybody has a role, and it’s like an island.”

Now, the parents are continuing to put their lives on hold to support the boys. Rick Edwards, the father of lead-off hitter Mason and owner of Puget Sound Pattern in Tukwilla, told the newspaper he was working 12-hour days to make sure the shop can operate without him. Tuesday evening, he planned to take his 10-year-old son on a cross country red-eye flight so they can both catch Mason’s Wednesday game.

“One way or another, it’s gonna get done,” Edwards said. “But just being able to keep the dream alive, it blows my mind. There’s 6,500 Little League teams that started this thing off, and there’s 10 that are left in the United States bracket ... this is just unbelievable.”

If the team does well, their last game in Williamsport could be as late as Aug. 28. That could entail all the BLS parents putting their families’ lives on hold for another 12 days.

Workman knows the boys a grateful bunch. When the tournament is finally over, she believes they all will have profound appreciation for the sacrifices their parents made. For now, she is content to watch Parker live out his baseball dreams with his teammates.

“I hope what I feel when I look back on this whole experience is how proud I am of these boys and how much fun it is to watch them do what they do,” she said. “Because they’re just so much fun to watch.”

Little League World Series

▪ Bonney Lake-Sumner vs. Honolulu

▪ When: 4 p.m. PST on Aug. 17, 2022

▪ Where: Lamade Stadium, Williamsport, Pennsylvania

▪ Streaming: ESPN or ESPN+