The Moorhead 14U Travel Black Team: (Back row) Wyatt Myklebust, Brady Steffen, Nolan Holmes and Gavin Marsden. (Middle row) Sam Cragg, David Mack, Jackson Emmerich, Mason Grace and Jonah Meyer. (Front row) Grady Huotari, Jackson Gaard, Lincoln Schaumann and Brady Stafford. Photo/Best of Times Photography. (Photo/Best of Times Photography.)

It’s a local first: The Moorhead 14U travel baseball team is headed to the Babe Ruth World Series in August – the first local team ever to qualify for the international event in Fredricksburg, Virginia.

The Moorhead 14-year-olds’ trip to the prestigious youth event caps a successful season, including the Minnesota championship and their showing at the Midwest Plains Regional Tournament in Rapid City, South Dakota, July 19-23. A second local group, the 15U traveling team, competes for their own division’s regional championship this weekend in Henning, Minnesota.

Sponsored by the Moorhead Youth Baseball Association, the 14U baseball team is coached by Wyatt Gunkel.

According to Charlie Holmes, the father of one of the 13 team members, the Moorhead association is working hard to quickly raise funds to send the boys to the 10-day tournament in the Washington, D.C., suburb. The group’s goal is to raise $50,000 to cover the once-in-a-lifetime experience. “We just found out we need to be there on Aug. 3, so we don’t have a lot of time. We’re all out on the streets, knocking on doors,” Holmes said. “The community is really getting behind us. It’s pretty awesome. I think we’ll make it.”

The national Babe Ruth organization covers the young players’ airline flights, and there’s some support from the league for the parents who accompany them, Holmes explained. However, funds must be raised for the hotels, meals and other costs of the 10-day trip. Donations may be made online at spot.fund.rblz1se.