1. Bend North Little League World Series Fundraiser

It’s 2 p.m. on Monday, and Jody Mottern was surrounded by suitcases, laundry, paperwork, a tired child and an unruly dog.

For the last 24 hours, the Bend mother has been unpacking clothes, doing loads (and loads) of laundry and repacking clothes. There are suitcases, so many suitcases.

“It’s overwhelming,” Mottern said.

Life has been a blur since the Bend North Little League Softball team returned from San Bernardino, California, on Sunday after being crowned winners of the regional tournament Saturday, earning the team a trip to Greenville, North Carolina, for the Little League Softball World Series.

Behind the scenes of the surprising Bend team of 11-, 12- and 13-year-old girls, parents like Mottern, in her role as player advocate or “team mom,” are busy getting the girls ready to play, packing, and booking transportation and lodging for families.

It’s not as simple as it sounds. For starters, they don’t know if they’re flying out Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday — Little League International has yet to let them know.

While lodging and transportation are covered for the players, the team’s coach and Mottern by Little League International, the families need to pay for their own plane tickets and hotel reservations. Many have already traveled to San Bernardino, too.

“They’re having to take all this time off work. A lot of people are running out of vacation days,” said coach Kevin Guiney, who noted that self-employed parents will simply lose income. “Round-trip airline tickets are over $1,200 dollars. Take a family of four out there, it’s well over $5,000 for flights. We’re scrambling like crazy to get as much fundraising as we can.”

The team has started a PayPal fundraiser to help families tackle these costs.

Mottern, who is a language arts teacher for Bend-La Pine Schools, said the trip is a financial strain for many families, including hers. But they have to go, she said, for the girls.

“It makes me teary. I respect and admire these girls so much. They have such high levels of integrity and sportsmanship and for me, that’s what it’s about,” Mottern said. “It’s not about the wins and losses. It’s not about even the plays on the field. It’s about them working together, learning how to deal with adversity, learning how to rise to challenges.”

Mottern recalled a moment from the Northwest regionals tournament when there was a 26-minute game delay against a team from Washington.

“You could see the Washington team on the other side, standing around, walking around the field,” Mottern said. “But our girls were dancing; they were singing silly songs, doing the hokeypokey; they got the coach dancing. That to me was the greatest victory of the tournament.”

Mottern said what the girls love most about the game is each other. After weeks of sharing small hotel rooms, bathrooms and beds, she said the girls still cherish their time with each other and truly love each other.

“If one of them is down, there are five other girls picking them back up. That to me is the biggest victory as a parent. I could watch that all day long,” Mottern said.

Angela Phillips, mother of one of the girls on the team, is excited for the team to build lifelong memories during the World Series.

“When they’re in the dorms, they’ll be with people from different countries, get to learn more about different cultures. I think it’ll be an incredible experience for them,” Phillips said.

The Little League Softball World Series will begin with a Welcome Party on Thursday for all teams at the football stadium in East Carolina University and opening ceremonies on Saturday. Games officially begin Sunday although Bend North first game is scheduled for 7 a.m. Pacific time Aug. 7.

The World Series could keep the Bend North team in Greenville until Aug. 12.

Guiney noted that Abby’s Legendary Pizza hosted watch parties for regional tournaments this year, and encouraged fans to keep an eye out for other businesses hosting launch parties over the next several days.

“To see the excitement on their faces when we won regionals, it’s pretty hard to hold your emotions back when you see that,” Guiney said. “Knowing right now that we’re one of 12 teams left in the entire world really hits home how big of a deal this really is.”