As John Qualman was soliciting funds to send the South Coast All-Stars to the 14-year-old Babe Ruth Northwest Regional tournament in Idaho, he told people that the club had great potential.

During the championship game of the tournament on Sunday, they proved him right, coming up with clutch plays to preserve a tie in the top of the seventh inning and then winning it in the bottom half of the inning, securing a berth in the World Series at Appleton, Wisc.

“One thing I’m really happy about is we had people sponsor us and put up money to let us go, and I sold them on the kids being ready to play ball,” Qualman said by cell phone during the long drive back from Moscow, Idaho, on Monday. “They showed up to play yesterday and they really made everybody proud.”

South Coast topped Tualatin Hills, the North Oregon champions, to reach the championship game, and then edged Meridian, Idaho, 7-6 for the title.

Now South Coast is preparing for a flight — paid for by the national Babe Ruth League — next week for the 10-team national finals. The All-Stars will play each of the other four teams in their pool, with the top three teams from each pool advancing to the championship bracket.

That South Coast advanced to the World Series, especially considering the team had just 10 players, was impressive, Qualman said.

“These kids really had to be convinced to play as a team, because you can’t sit anybody down,” Qualman said. “They all decided to buy into the program, and look what happened.”

The most concern for the club at the regional tournament came when South Coast lost to Chehalis, Wash., after winning its first two games in pool play. That put the team at risk of not reaching the semifinals.

But then a series of results in other games opened the door for South Coast, and the team won its final game, pulling away from a 4-4 tie to easily beat the Montana champions, to grab the top seed for its pool.

“We probably did a better job getting them up as coaches and getting them focused on winning and believing that they belonged and they could win this thing,” Qualman said.

In the championship game, things flowed well for South Coast, as the team managed to scrape out several hits against Meridian’s tough pitching staff and came up with timely defense as well.

In the first inning, Meridian had a runner on first and a batter hit a line drive that appeared to be a sure base hit. But Matt Miranda chased the ball down in the outfield, caught it, and easily doubled up the runner before he could get back to first base.

“That’s the way it went,” Qualman said.

At least for the first six innings.

Ryan Smith pitched well for four innings, before Meridian’s hitters started getting their timing down. Alex Snow came on for the next two innings before the coaches brought Smith back in for the final inning with a 6-3 lead. But Smith suddenly couldn’t find the strike zone and Meridian tied the game and had two runners on without any outs.

Duke Mitchell came in to pitch and then South Coast caught a break when Meridian botched a suicide squeeze bunt that would have given the Idaho club the lead.

Then Josh Iabichello fielded a grounder and got another Meridian runner in a pickle, which South Coast executed perfectly for the second out. Mitchell induced a pop-up for the final out to preserve the tie.

In the bottom of the inning, Mitchell got a single and scored on a two-out double by Lucas Qualman.

The championship game was typical of the weekend — multiple players contributing at key times.

“Every game, somebody came up and did what they had to do,” John Qualman said. “Lucas hadn’t been hitting very well.

“When the game was over, we talked to the commissioner there, and he said after watching 35 years of baseball, he’s never seen a team as scrappy as us.”

Qualman attributed much of the team’s success to the dedication of a couple of groups of kids to keep playing together.

The 10-player roster included several who had been together on last year’s 13-year-old all-star team, including North Bend students Nick Cole, Hayden Davisson, Mitchell, Lucas Qualman and Marshall Giles, and Siuslaw or Mapleton players Iabichello, Smith, Snow and Jake Thompson, all coached by Mike Elliot, who was the all-star team’s co-coach with John Qualman. Miranda, the team’s other player, lives in Myrtle Point.

The group will fly to Wisconsin next week. The World Series is Aug. 22-29.

Meanwhile, the South Coast Nationals, a 13- to 15-year-old all-star team, also had a successful postseason run, reaching the semifinals before being eliminated in its regional tournament at Centralia, Wash.

“We were so excited,” said Doug Veysey, who coached the team along with Rick Spring and manager Gary Grassham.

The Nationals accomplished one of their goals by beating the North Oregon champions to take the claim of the state’s top team. They also pounded Wyoming in a must-win game to reach the semifinals.

A loaded team from Vancouver eliminated the Nationals 11-1 in the semifinals on Saturday, but the team’s run included pitchers Jason Atkins and Clint Burris both being named most valuable players of individual games and the entire team putting on a good showing for the South Coast.

“It was so incredible up there,” Veysey said. “Everything was so classy. We had a real good time.”