It has taken all summer. But the nerves, jitters, anxiety and anticipation have finally taken their toll on Mark Hulings, head coach of the Longview 13-15 Babe Ruth All-Stars.

“I have no fingernails,” Hulings joked early Tuesday afternoon, just after Longview finished its final practice of the season. “I’m just so excited for the kids. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I hope they have a blast.”

Are the players ready?

“Oh God, yes,” Hulings said, chuckling. “They’re biting at the bit.”

As a tournament co-host for the Babe Ruth 13-15 World Series, Longview shares with Kelso the distinction of being one of the first two teams in the 10-team field to have a tourney berth.

What Longview and Kelso have known since setting their rosters, the eight regional champions didn’t learn until as recently as last week.

Of course, Centralia, Appleton, Wis., Tallahassee, Fla., Colonie, N.Y., Cranston, R.I., Torrance, Calif., West Fargo, N.D., and Nederland, Texas, didn’t just “learn” about their World Series berths.

They seized them with on-the-field excellence.

With those extra months of knowledge comes a dual burden for Kelso and Longview.

There’s the waiting, playing what amounts to exhibition game after exhibition game.

And there’s dying to know whether an above-.500 summer against mostly older, Junior American Legion teams will translate to success against the best 15-year-old competition in the United States.

It’s a unique mental grind.

“I think that all summer, the anticipation has been building,” said Hulings, a former R.A. Long, Lower Columbia College, Texas State University and Linfield College baseball standout. “We just want to get that first pitch out of the way and settle down.”

First pitch comes in prime time Friday night. Longview takes on West Fargo at 7:35 p.m. at David Story Field. Hulings will hand the ball to his staff ace, Seth Pedersen, and Longview will test its World Series mettle.

“We’re just trying to keep the kids calm and make ’em realize that they do belong here,” the head coach said. “The rest of the teams are 15-year-olds, just like them. We’ve prepared against older players. We’ve played 15-20 games against Legion teams.

“I know that when we played other 15-year-old teams, we had more bounce in our step,” Hulings added. “We beat Centralia twice. We beat Hazel Dell-Metro. We’ve beaten Kelso once. We belong here.”

At the same time, Hulings is embracing the mantle of underdog. Perhaps regional champions will write off the automatic entrants, or at least look past them.

“I’m sure a lot of people are looking at us and saying, ‘Whaddaya expect?’ We’re preaching that we have nothing to lose,” Hulings said. “We’ll come in and swing it, pitch well and play good defense. I love being the underdog. The pressure is off. We’re just hoping to get the crowd into it and have fun.”

Pedersen “thrives under the spotlight,” which makes him the ideal starter in Longview’s tourney opener, Hulings added. Longview this summer has tended to bunch its hits and play sharper defense with Pedersen on the bump.

Ryan Littlefield and Nick Brill will start Games 2 and 3, respectively, and Hulings hopes to bring back Pedersen for a potentially crucial Game 4 on four days rest. That trio of frontline starters highlights an impossibly deep pitching staff — “14 deep,” said Hulings — and Hulings can pluck any player from any position on the field and ask him to pitch, without regrets.

“It’s a nice problem to have,” Hulings said. “Kalani LaFave, Jesse Gomez, Cory Wynn, we just have a lot of quality pitching.”

Longview’s weakness has been hitting. Littlefield, Nick Brill, Tanner Brill, Gomez, Pedersen and Trevor Hulings have anchored the offense, and everyone “has shown potential of breaking out,” Coach Hulings added. “As long as we string some hits together, we’re going to be very competitive.”

Hulings is assisted by Dave Gomez and Greg Bussell. Tyler Hogman, Brock Myklebust, Chase Rathmell, Von Johnson, Hiro Kusakabe, Nate Brill and Christian Hudek round out the Longview roster.

Longview, Wash.

Tournament co-host

Population: 34,660

Notable: Films shot in Longview include “God’s Country and the Woman” (1937), “Men of Honor” (2000), “Into the Wild” (2007), “Cthulhu” (2007), and “Mindhunter” (2008).

Famous natives: James Phillip Fleming, recipient of the Medal of Honor for heroic action as a United States Air Force helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War; Moulton Taylor, inventor of the Aerocar; Bud Black, manager of the San Diego Padres; Hal Riney, American advertising executive inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame in 2001; Rick Sweet, Louisville Bats minor league baseball manager.