Believe.

Irmo coach Dave Bogan implored his team with those seven letters. They huddled together, perhaps for the last time, on the field in South Williamsport, Pa.

In the top of the seventh inning on Aug. 20, the Midlands team that is representing the Southeast in the Little League World Series gave up five runs. The scoreboard read 6-1 in favor of the kids from South Dakota. Three outs from a second tournament loss and a long trip home to South Carolina.

Believe, Bogan implored.

Seven letters.

“I’m a big Ted Lasso fan, so ‘believe’ is a big one to me,” he later said in a post-game interview, referencing the Emmy-winning Apple TV series .

The word plays a central theme in the show about the fictitious British soccer team, AFC Richmond. A yellow sign with “Believe” scrawled in bl

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