NORTH BEND — The South Coast All-Stars will begin their trek to the Babe Ruth 14-year-old World Series with a middle-of-the-night ride on a school bus.

The local baseball team leaves at 3 a.m. Thursday on its way to Portland for a flight to Wisconsin. After a day to recover from the trip and enjoy the pre-tournament banquet, South Coast plays in the opening game of the World Series at Appleton, Wis., against Fort Smith Church, Ariz., at noon (10 a.m., Pacific time), on Saturday.

The squad, which includes players from North Bend, Myrtle Point and Florence, held one of its final tune-ups for the event in a practice at Clyde Allen Field on Monday.

The All-Stars are brimming with confidence after winning the Southern Oregon State Tournament and then the Northwest Regional at Moscow, Idaho.

“I think we can compete with any other team we play,” said Hayden Davisson. “We have a really good defense. When everybody hits the bats, I don’t think anybody can stop us.”

One big variable is that the team can expect to see outstanding pitching in Wisconsin. The tournament includes seven other regional champions, as well as the host club and the Wisconsin state champion.

South Coast will play four straight days, hoping to be one of the top three squads from its five-team pool. The All-Stars face Minnetonka, Minn. (Midwest Plains Region) on Sunday, Cranston, R.I. (New England Region) on Monday, and host team Appleton Babe Ruth on Tuesday.

The other five-team pool includes Eau Claire, Wis. (Wisconsin champion), Youngstown, Ohio (Ohio Valley Region), Chandler, Ariz. (Pacific Southwest Region), North Syracuse, N.Y. (Middle Atlantic Region) and Jupiter, Fla. (Southeast Region).

Mike Elliott, who coaches the South Coast team with John Qualman, said he doesn’t know anything about the other squads at the tournament, but knows the All-Stars are up for a challenge.

“We will expect they’re really good, or they wouldn’t be there,” he said.

The past month has been a whirlwind for the team, which beat defending state champion Josephine County twice in Grants Pass to win the state tournament, then won the regional tournament in Idaho — both titles coming in dramatic fashion.

Along the way, the group has won over new fans, many who never go to games.

The public response has been tremendous, said Mike Taylor, the president of South Coast Babe Ruth. He said donations since the team won the regional tournament are nearing $10,000, which will cover some housing and transportation costs not covered by the national Babe Ruth organization, as well as meals during the stay in Wisconsin.

“I’ve gone to places and made announcements for fundraisers,” he said. “You tell them what the kids did and a round of applause breaks out.

“A lot of the people — I think they’re more excited than some of the kids.”

Reaching the World Series is a special accomplishment. The only other South Coast Babe Ruth team to get that far was a Senior Babe Ruth club in 1996 — the same year the South Coast Aces softball program also advanced to a national event.

“The people who have been in the program and watched the program realize what an accomplishment it is,” Taylor said.

The players also have a sense they have done something special.

Matt Miranda, who lives on a dairy farm near Myrtle Point, hit a couple of balls out of Clyde Allen Field during warm-ups Monday and then remembered the feeling of doing the same thing in the state championship game to give South Coast the lead.

“That was a lot of excitement,” he said.

But not nearly as much as when Duke Mitchell scored from first base on a two-out double by Lucas Qualman in the bottom of the seventh inning to win the championship game in the regional tournament.

“We all charged the field,” Miranda said. “It was a lot of fun.”

Now the players are in for what should be more fun, both on and off the field. The banquet Friday will be highlighted by guest speaker Jeff Bagwell, a former star for the Houston Astros.

“I think it’s going to be an awesome experience for everybody,” John Qualman said.