The Midway Junior softball team has already been through a summer’s worth of excitement.

Midway hopes to extend it a little bit longer at the Junior Softball World Series in Kirkland, Wash., this week.

After successfully getting through four previous postseason stages, Midway is finally at the highest level, where they’ll go for a World Series title starting today. After winning the regional in Midland last weekend, the Midway Juniors are making their first appearance at a World Series since 2003.

The Midway team has compiled a record of 12-1 through the district, sectional, state and regional levels this year.

“I can tell you that winning that regional for whatever reason was very emotional for everybody,” Midway coach Scott Woodruff said. “I guess everything culminated right there. Its kind of a grind to get there, and when you get there and win it, everybody was just unbelievably excited. It all seems surreal a little bit.”

The tournament for 13- and 14-year-olds is a weeklong affair that began Sunday and goes through Saturday. Midway opens play today against Puerto Rico, the defending champs who return 10 players off last year’s team. There are five U.S. regions represented, along with teams from Canada, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and Europe/Middle East/Africa regions. The event opens with pool play and moves into the semifinals Friday. The title game is Saturday.

For the last five years, the Latin American team has dominated, as Puerto Rico won titles in 2007 and 2009.

Midway has rarely been pushed in the postseason this summer. The team is 12-1 through the district, sectional, state and regional levels. A lot of those games were blowouts. At the highest level thus far, Midway blew away the regional field in Midland by outscoring opponents, 19-3, in three games.

But in the championship game against Brenham, Midway trailed for the first time all postseason when Brenham scored an inside-the-park home run in the first inning.

In that rare position, Midway battled back and won, 3-1, to secure advancement.

“They got the lead on us and we had to battle back and get the lead and kept it,” Woodruff said. “It was pretty exciting. I think there was a little bit of relief there. We worked hard for this goal.”

Right after clinching the title, the scene was mostly a blur to an elated Midway roster.

“The immediate scene was kind of pandemonium for a few minutes,” Woodruff said. “It was really unbelievable. I tried to keep the girls grounded. We expected to compete for that, but we really didn’t know if we would win it.”

Midway benefitted from its run to a state title as a 10-11 team in 2008. Three of the team’s current players had already seen each team it faced at regionals two years ago, which added a layer of familiarity to each game.

“I played all the teams in regionals in 2008,” starting pitcher Callee Guffey said. “We played the same teams and it was, ‘Oh, we got this.’ But then it got harder, so we had to play harder.”

That turned out to be an easier proposition than expected. Pitching and defense has been a hallmark of this Midway team. They made just two errors throughout regionals, and Guffey threw a pair of complete game one-hitters from the circle. Alexia Rowe, who also played on that 2008 state championship team, has also been rock solid in relief.

As for the World Series, a level none of these battle-tested players have reached in the past, Midway plans on sticking with what got them here. Getting a few bounces wouldn’t hurt, either.

“I feel like we have just as good a chance as any team up there,” Woodruff said. “There’s a lot of team unity at this point.”

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