And who can blame them? When more than 6,500 teams began the summer, the odds were incredibly long that any could reach the U.S. Championship.

But here Fairfield is. Here Summerlin South Little League from Las Vegas, Nevada is. And now they will play for the U.S. Championship. Come later Saturday. One will become the country’s best Little League Baseball team.

“I never thought this would happen, that we would be here,” Fairfield center fielder Dante Madera said. “Now we’re going to play a good team in the US championship.”

Fairfield is just the second Connecticut team during the 2000s to reach the national championship. It is trying to become the state’s first to reach the world final since district rival Trumbull captured the 1989 world title.

SAM BALKANSKY/Associated Press Nevada’s Garrett Gallegos, left, celebrates after a hit during the first inning against South Carolina at the Little League World Series on Thursday. Nevada won to advanc to the United States championship game.

So, while Fairfield had won 10-year-old and 11-year-old state championships the past two seasons, it start was hard fathoming having this opportunity. The same goes for Las Vegas. But both teams combined both tremendous skills and iron wills to reach this point. That included the first time they played, Wednesday, when Las Vegas took an early 3-0 lead before Fairfield rallied late for a 7-3 win.

“It’s a crazy experience. Since 9 and 10U we never thought this would happen,” Fairfield first baseman/pitcher Tommy D’Amura said. “We were just going to Cranston, Rhode Island and then Massachusetts and now we’re here in Williamsport. It’s a dream come true.”

It’s a dream which started feeling less far-fetched for Las Vegas following its second game as districts. There, a comment from a friend provided a crucial turning point as this team tries winning Nevada’s first U.S. championship on the field. The 2014 team was awarded the national title after a team from Chicago, Illinois was stripped of the crown for using ineligible players.

“I never really knew we would be sitting here for the U.S. Championship but I had a feeling we were going to make it (to the Series) since our second game of districts, that’s for sure,” hard-hitting Cache Malan said after hitting a crucial sixth inning single in Thursday’s comeback win against South Carolina. “My friends right after the game were saying, ‘Cache, you guys are going all the way.’ It just brought a lot of confidence to me and the whole team battled and now we’re in the U.S. Championship fighting to be the best team in the USA.”

While Las Vegas entered the Series undefeated, Fairfield never lost a game in Connecticut the past three seasons. It enters the U.S. Final 4-0 in South Williamsport. The Metro champions lost their only game at regionals, 6-1 against New York, but responded by edging New Jersey in seven innings and battering New York in a championship rematch, 14-1.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Connecticut’s Boden Dunlap (19) and Joe Sorrehtino (8) celebrate after scoring on a Charlie McCullough single in the fifth inning against Hawaii.

Fairfield went into overdrive once here, winning its opener, 1-0 against Texas before erasing deficits in three straight games, including against Hawaii, South Dakota and Nevada. Now dream has become reality and preparation has met opportunity.

“We play at such a fun, high level of baseball but to be sitting up here waiting for the US championship, it’s a dream,” Fairfield manager Brian Palazzolo said. “It’s a next to an impossible dream because there are so many good teams out there. Every team gives you their all and these guys don’t quit.”

That goes for Las Vegas, too. The Mountain champions did not flinch in two thrillers against South Carolina. Despite being no-hit for six innings Monday, Garrett Gallegos and Luke D’Ambrosio dominated on the mound and helped keep the game scoreless. Jayden Lee and Cutter Ricafort then hit two-out seventh inning singles and Las Vegas won, 1-0.

Those two teams against staged a heavyweight battle Thursday and South Carolina had Las Vegas two outs from elimination, leading 3-2 with two outs in the sixth. Then, Brooks Fechser and Malan singled and Garrett Gallegos crushed a mammoth go-ahead, three-run home run. D’Ambrosio closed it out with a strikeout and Las Vegas was U.S. Final-bound.

“I sound like a broken record but we compete 1-12. We’re not relying on the tops. We’re not dreading the bottoms, we’re not trying to get through the middles. Everybody competes on this team 1-12,” Las Vegas manager TJ Fechser said. “I never worry about someone being up. Every guy up there has had a big moment for us and I expect it out of them.”

Like Fairfield, Las Vegas has received steady production throughout its order. The Mountain champions are hitting a collective .316 and all 12 players have hits. Malan and Gallegos have combined for three home runs as well.

Fairfield earned Saturday’s first final berth when it turned a 3-0 deficit into that 7-3 win against Nevada. It was a typical Fairfield performance, including a big comeback, gutsy pitching, incredible defense and timely hitting. It basically was a microcosm of the team’s entire summer-long run.

Fairfield has seemingly been at its best in pressure situations. The team was battle-tested throughout districts and states before really displaying its resilience at regionals and the Series. In each of the past three games, Fairfield has either been behind or trailing in the fifth inning.

Once in the fifth inning, Fairfield has outscored those three opponents, 21-0. Pick a player and one can see him making clutch contributions on the mound, at the plate or in the field. And that highlights just how good and tough this team has become. Fairfield’s .314 average is nearly identical to Las Vegas and both teams have balance and guile coursing throughout the dugout.

“Everyone on this team is really consistent. There’s no one you don’t trust,” D’Amura said after going 2 for 3 with a mammoth home run against Nevada. “You trust everyone in a big spot. You trust everyone to get a hit, pitch well, make a play in the field.”

Both teams will have their pitching aces available, adding intrigue to the final, especially since both have been so dominant at the Series. Fairfield pitcher Luca Pellegrini overpowered both Texas and South Dakota, going 2-0 and not allowing an earned run. He threw consecutive complete games and surrendered just three hits.

Pellegrini is the rare Series pitcher who relies almost exclusively on his fastball. The right-hander does so by pumping in the low 70s and brilliantly spotting his pitches. It has worked throughout the summer, including in the Metro final when he shut down a powerful New York offense.

“He does have a change-up and curveball, but when the fastball is spotting the zone and he can spot it the way he does, there’s no one else I’d rather have on the mound than Luca Pellegrini.”

Las Vegas feels the same way about Gallegos. The right-hander also has put on a pitching clinic at the Series, going 1-0 and not allowing a run in 10 1/3 innings and striking out 18.

Gallegos fanned 12 in the first South Carolina win and also went 2-0 at regionals. He has not allowed a run in three of his last four starts going back to regionals.

“Garrett’s been a warrior all season, forever since I’ve known him,” Fechser said. “He’ll be up for the challenge if he’s out there.”

Each team has embraced immense challenges all summer and that has led them to this moment. The margin from Wednesday’s game seems deceiving since it was tied in the fifth inning. Fairfield also saved multiple runs with five sensational plays between the third and fifth innings.

The reality is that these two teams appear as evenly matched as it gets. The big winner there could be the fans.

In fact, South Carolina manager Dave Bogan may have been speaking for the country when he address the matchup following Thursday’s game against Las Vegas.

“It’s going to be a great game,” he said. “”It’s going to a really great game and I’m looking forward to watching.”