RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Colman Gouthro starts on the mound for New England during a Little League World Series game against Southeast at Lamade Stadium on Thursday. Southeast won 13-0 in four innings.

The main goal this summer was capturing a District 8 championship. Braintree American Little League reached that goal, too, but that championship proved a launching pad, not a destination.

And that vaulted Braintree to Little League’s ultimate destination, cementing its status as its league’s best team ever.

Braintree made history this summer, capturing both its league’s first state championship and regional championship, while reaching its first Little League World Series. From a small goal came a remarkable achievement.

“We just kept moving onto the next thing and now they’re able to top it off with this Williamsport experience,” Braintree manager Frank Fasoli said. “It’s just so magical. This is what everybody strives for and the fact that we pulled it off is remarkable. We’re here and get to experience it all. That’s the championship to me.”

Braintree won district, section, state and regional championships on its way to South Williamsport, shining not just a light on its league but the entire district.

It has been a summer of firsts for District 8 as well. Although the district is annually competitive, Braintree earned it its first state championship when it won three straight one-run contests and defeated perennial power Walpole 1-0 for the title.

“We have a great district. It’s super competitive and we all support each other. We try to beat each other on the field, but whatever team wins, all the others get behind it,” Braintree American Little League president Nick DiMartino said. “For this to be the first state championship is pretty amazing and now we’re the first District 8 team at the Little League World Series which is really special.”

“It’s the friendships and the experiences the kids have made which is great to see,” league vice president Steve Pratt said. “It’s been such a wild ride, going from districts to sectionals, to states, then regionals and now the Series.”

It’s a ride which looked like it might not go far based upon last year’s results. Winning a district crown was a primary goal because at the 11-year-old level, Braintree was denied the title, losing against rival Norwell.

Better to lose at that level, though, than at the 12-year-old division. Little Leaguers often build toward the 12-year-old days since the longest road there leads to the Series. And, in hindsight, that Norwell loss may have been a blessing. From defeat, rose renewed determination to not experience it again.

And from that commitment came a historic summer and the best Little League baseball District 8 has ever seen. No American team won more games than Braintree on the way to the Series as it entered 18-0.

“We lost a heartbreaker in 11U on our home field to a Norwell that we had beat in three innings earlier in the tournament. I think the way that whole thing went made the team want this much more,” Fasoli said. “I think had we won districts, we might not have been as hungry. It truly made them stronger and made them want to work to make this whole process happen.”

That process included non-stop work. Literally.

Between practices and games, Braintree did not have an off day throughout the summer run, going at it for more than 50 straight days entering the Series. But that is just the way this team likes it.

It has embraced the hard because it enjoys working and, just as important, loves playing baseball.

All that work has not just produced a huge payoff, but also created an unbreakable bond between the players.

“That work is like a Braintree American tradition. They get together in mid-June and work together every day until it’s over,” DiMartino said. “They are hanging out together at practice and the games, but it could be at a pool party or something like that, too. That’s makes the team so tight. They are good kids and when the team was formed on June 7 they came together and rallied around each other.”

A telling scene unfolded after Braintree American played its regular season Major Division championship last June. Some of the players from both teams were selected to the all-star team.

So there, they stayed on the field after the game concluded. They were joined by their other all-star teammates and an impromptu practice broke out.

That is where the first steps to South Williamsport were taken. Go back a few years, however, to see when Braintree first showcased its potential. This group was 8, when it won the Boston Friendship League championship, a prestigious championship. Coaches, board members and parents sensed that something special could be brewing.

The team won a lot of games in the following years, but never the biggest ones. It was denied championship banners the next three seasons.

This summer presented Braintree its final Little League opportunity. And, while the team wanted to win championships the previous three years, it also understood that this year was the one that counted the most. So, after winning that district championship, the team just kept adding title banners and taking this journey as far as it could go.

All that work the last four years led Braintree to both history and Little League Baseball’s promised land. The challenges were many and Braintree won five one-run games on its way to Lamade Stadium, outlasting New Hampshire, 3-2 in seven dramatic innings for the New England championship.

This is something neither Braintree American, nor District 8 had ever seen before. This run may open the door for future teams from there, but this one will always be the first. They are the trail blazers and what they have achieved will ensure them both league and district immortality.

They now walk together forever.

“It’s something they’ll always remember. They’ve made a huge impact,” DiMartino said. “Every place in town is having a party.”