Summerlin South Little League fans cheer team at downtown Las Vegas watch party | Baseball

A downtown nacho joint was buzzing Saturday as fans rallied behind a Las Vegas team that won the U.S. championship at the Little League World Series.

Dozens of spirited fans — kids and adults alike — packed Nacho Daddy at 121 N. Fourth St., decked out in red and gold shirts and ball caps, to watch Summerlin South defeat Fairfield, Connecticut, 8-2 in a hotly anticipated showdown in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

As the 12:30 p.m. start time approached, every TV in the restaurant tuned in to the game, which was broadcast live on ABC. Nacho Daddy’s co-founder, Fred Mossler, is the father of Banks Mossler, who plays for Summerlin South. Fred De La Torre, the restaurant’s general manager, said Fred Mossler was in Pennsylvania to watch his son play.

Kristine Watters was among the proud parents at the watch party. She said that her children had been teammates and classmates of many of the boys on the Summerlin South team.

Waters said that her family, which had grown especially close with many of the players, felt deeply invested in the team’s path to the championship, describing the experience as “incredible.”

‘Our boys’

“These are our people, our boys,” Watters said before the game started. She cheered as the television announcer read each name on the Summerlin South team. “We are over-the-moon excited for them to be in this experience. There are major league players who have never experienced this.”

Summerlin South’s 2025 championship run started on June 28 in the local league tournament, where they ultimately won the District 4 title. In late July, they advanced to the state tournament held in Reno. Their regional tournament took place in early August in San Bernardino, California, where they earned their spot in the Little League World Series as the team representing the Mountain Region.

Summerlin South won early bracket games in the Little League World Series before facing a setback Wednesday against Connecticut. The next day, the team bounced back with an elimination-game win and secured its spot in the Saturday U.S. championship game.

“Because they’ve been on this long run away from home, they think that they are there by themselves,” Watters said. “But we are right here with them.”

Minutes later, in the back of the restaurant, children, nibbling on tortilla chips and quesadillas, shouted “Let’s go, Mountain!” while clapping. When Summerlin South scored its first run off a wild pitch in the first inning, roars erupted across the building.

Leading up to the big win, the atmosphere at Nacho Daddy kept its spark.

Boys wearing baseball jerseys banged aluminum pans against the tables and climbed onto chairs, pumping their fists to celebrate a tag-out in the fifth inning. Nearby, groups of friends embraced, holding one of the golden colored balloons that had been scattered around the restaurant.

Toward the end of the game, parents had joined the kids who had been chanting regularly. At the bottom of the sixth and final inning, they repeated together, “One more strike! One more strike! One more strike!”

Immediately after the game concluded, two boys waved the Nevada flag high as restaurant employees walked around with sparklers.

With Saturday’s win, Summerlin South is set to face the international champion, Chinese Taipei, in the world championship game at noon Sunday.

“We’re facing a juggernaut, but coming this far and seeing that it is possible means so much to all of our families,” De La Torre said. “It is awesome to have a good story come out of our community.”

Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.