Nate Schools remembers coaching his current Gorham Little League 10U minors softball team two summers ago, when most of the players were 8. They lacked focus and didn’t take playing seriously.

“We used to say it’s the ‘Bad News Bears,’ that team,” he said.

It’s a different story now. Those players are now headed to Staten Island, New York, for the 10U Eastern Regional after winning district and state titles earlier this month. It’s part of a sweep for the Gorham community, as the town’s 12U majors team also won a state title and earned a trip to Bristol, Connecticut, for the New England Regional. The 12U team lost its first game to Rhode Island on Monday, then extended its tournament Tuesday with a 1-0, 11-inning win over Vermont, backed by 19 strikeouts from pitcher Cameron Gagnon. The run ended with a 13-1 loss to Connecticut on Wednesday morning.

“What we’ve been able to see over five (summer and fall) seasons is a lot of those girls mature into great softball players, and better people,” Schools said. “It’s been really fun to watch over those seasons. … It’s just been a cool thing to be a part of.”

Gorham’s 10U team begins play in New York on July 31.

“Over the last three years, the Little League has been able to field three majors teams and five minors teams,” Schools said. “There’s an excitement around softball in Gorham that only will create an atmosphere that Gorham is a softball town. … I think the future is bright.”

Gorham’s 10U team has shown a penchant for the dramatic. The team lost its first game in the double-elimination district tournament before winning out to make the state tournament, then bounced back from a loss to Massabesic to win the rematch in an all-or-nothing state final.

“The girls like to pull on our heart strings when it comes to really grinding a game out,” Schools said.

With that resilience, however, has come an understanding that the team isn’t out of a game or tournament, even if it has to erase a deficit or climb out of a losers’ bracket.

“We have this weird thing where we’ll be down by a couple of runs in the first couple of innings, and then it’s usually by inning four or five, it’s like our lucky inning,” 10-year-old left fielder and third baseman Gabby Saldivar said. “We always end up getting up by at least six runs. It’s crazy, it always happens.”

Saldivar added that an urge for Gorham’s players to test themselves on a bigger stage motivated the team to pull off its early victories.

“It was definitely upsetting (to lose the first districts game). If we had lost one more game, the season would have been over. I’ve experienced short seasons before and it’s not very fun,” she said. “It’s special. You get to represent where you live. It’s kind of an awesome feeling.”

The 10Us, who have received strong pitching from Natalie McCurdy and impressive play from catcher Caroline King, shortstop Sloane Taffe and second baseman Taylor Schools, are hoping to continue the run on the regional stage – perhaps in less heart-stressing fashion.

“For us to do that, we definitely have to be big on doing the basics right, which I think we do,” said 11-year-old third baseman Sophia Santiago, who was of league age at the start of the season. “I feel if we keep working on the basics and we get an early lead, we’ll do good.”

Along the way, the team has developed a pair of superstitions. One is a ball signed by the players on the team that they think brings them luck. Another is a belt owned by Julia Schaeffer’s dad that he wore during an American Legion championship, and that Schaeffer wore this season. After the belt broke, the players have touched it before their at-bats for a dose of fortune.

“They jell very well together,” Nate Schools said. “Most of them are friends on and off the field, and the families make it really easy to make this all work.”

A trip to the regionals wasn’t new business for the 12Us – 10 of the 12 players were on the 10U team that went to the Eastern Regional two years ago – but Gorham still had to dig deep. In both the district and state tournaments, Gorham put itself in the winners’ bracket, twice lost the first game of the championship round, then won the final game.

“I was super proud of our team, the way they bounced back in both tournaments,” Coach Nate Marquis said. “They came back with positive attitudes and played some great softball. They bounced right back, they didn’t get down on themselves.”

That ability to rebound after a tough loss showed itself on the regional stage as well. After losing to Rhode Island on Monday, Gorham got an excellent outing from Gagnon and extended its stay in Connecticut with an extra-inning win over Vermont on Tuesday.

“They’ve been eager for this opportunity. They’ve put in a lot of work,” Marquis said. “They got a taste of the work that’s required and the effort they have to put in, and they’ve absolutely put in that effort.”