For the first time in a generation, all of Maine has a rooting interest in the Little League World Series.

On Thursday at 3 p.m., a group of 14 boys from Gray-New Gloucester and Raymond will take the field at the famed 40,000-seat Howard J. Lamade Stadium in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, representing the entire state – indeed, all of New England.

We hope all 1.3 million Mainers are on their side, and we hope each of the players wrings every bit of awe, wonder and camaraderie out of what is sure to be an amazing experience.

The last group of Maine boys to make it that far – the Westbrook team from 2005 – has grown up, and those players now have lives and families of their own. This week, members of the team said that Gray-New Gloucester/Raymond, just the fourth Maine team ever to qualify for the Little League World Series, is in for the ride of their lives.

For one, they’ll get star treatment from the fans and media who pack Williamsport each year, and the millions who watch at home.

“You had to pinch yourself,” Zach Gardiner, now 30, who played shortstop for Westbrook in 2005, told the Press Herald. “I didn’t really soak it in until I got there. On our opening night, there were thousands and thousands of people that just packed that stadium. You literally felt like you were in the major leagues.”

But the real magic is what happens between the players, and between the players and the communities they represent. After spending weeks together during the Little League tournament, members of the Westbrook team became friends for life. Spread out as they now are, they still communicate over group chat; one of them even knows some of the Gray-New Gloucester players and told his old teammates this year’s team had a chance to do what they did.

The Westbrook team is also remembered fondly throughout the community for the way it brought everyone together to root for the city’s boys.

Something similar is happening in the Gray-New Gloucester community as their team makes history. Everyone is following along.

A large crowd watched from at least one local restaurant last week as the team beat Canton, Mass., 2-1 in a thriller to earn the invitation to the World Series. One community member said the atmosphere, with people of all ages cheering along to their boys, gave him “chills.”

“You can’t go anywhere without this being the topic of conversation,” Gray-New Gloucester Middle School Principal Rick Riley-Benoit told the Press Herald. “And rightly so. This is a big deal.”

Just imagine what it will be like Thursday, when the team, now 12-0 overall, faces the Northwest champion, Northeast Seattle, with the game televised on ESPN.

If the Maine team wins, they’ll play in the double-elimination tournament again on Monday; if they lose, it’s Saturday.

Whatever happens, it’ll be the experience of a lifetime. Not only are the atmosphere and competition great, it’s a true World Series. At the tournament are teams from Fargo, North Dakota, and Needville, Texas, as well as Sydney, Australia, Venezuela, and the Czech Republic, among others.

It’s a special event. And this year, Maine finally gets to root for one of its own.

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