BANGOR, Maine — While this year’s Senior League World Series will be different from a structural perspective — with an earlier date and a new format — its field of participants will be familiar.
Led by defending champion West University Little League of Houston five of the 10 teams that have qualified for this year’s event competed at Mansfield Stadium a year ago for Little League Baseball’s world title for 14- through 16-year-olds.
Also returning are the Canadian champion Kiwanis LL/North Regina LL of Regina, Saskatchewan; Latin America qualifier Pariba LL of Willemstad, Curacao; U.S. Southeast representative Dumfries, Virginia; and Asia Pacific’s Saipan LL of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
Curacao edged Dumfries, Virginia, 3-2 in last year’s semifinals before falling to Houston 7-4 in the championship game. Regina, Saskatchewan, went 1-3 and Saipan finished 0-4 in pool play last August and did not reach the semifinals.
The returning teams join Lazio, Italy (Europe-Africa), and Holmes County, Ohio (U.S. Central), both of which participated in the 2010 Senior League World Series, and newcomers Upper Moreland, Pennsylvania (U.S. East), Nogales, Arizona (U.S. West), and Maine District 3 champion Old Town, the host team.
“Some people might say that you get the same teams all the time, but that’s because they’re historically strong programs,” Senior League World Series executive director Mike Brooker said. “Who’s going to win the NCAA basketball tournament? You know Kentucky’s going to be there. Duke’s going to be there, and there’s always a Cinderella, which this year here may be Nogales, Arizona. You just never know.”
The Canadian champions were scheduled to arrive in Bangor Thursday night for the tournament that begins Sunday with opening ceremonies Saturday night. They team were to fly from British Columbia where the national tournament was held to Montreal, then busing the remainder of the distance.
The U.S. East and U.S. Southeast teams are slated to arrive Friday afternoon, with the remainder of the squads reaching the tournament site Saturday morning.
The tournament, which ran Aug. 10-16 last year and traditionally has been held on the second or third weekend of August, was moved up this year at least in part to enhance broadcast possibilities for the championship game under Little League’s television contract with ABC/ESPN.
As a result, this year’s final will be televised live at noon Saturday, Aug. 8, on ESPN2. Previous championship games were aired live on ESPNU, which reaches a significantly smaller audience.
That left a shorter time span for Mansfield Stadium personnel to prepare the field for the Senior League World Series in the aftermath of a spring full of high school games and a summer of youth league games played at the facility.
“Historically we’ve had a full week or sometimes two to get ready, and we’re going to have a little less this year but the field crew does a tremendous job and they’re getting it done,” Brooker said. “A bunch of resodding has been done and they’ve rebuilt the mound and plate area already. It is labor intensive, but the good thing is we know we’re going to be done a little earlier, too.”
The modified double-elimination format, which replaces pool play that was used for the first 13 years the Senior League World Series was held in Bangor, was adopted as Little League seeks to bring all its championship tournaments into more conformity.
The new format features two five-team brackets playing down in double-elimination style from Sunday through Wednesday, leading to single-elimination semifinals Thursday evening and a winner-take-all championship game Aug. 8.
“Being an old coach, if I was coming out of the winners’ bracket I’d want someone to have to beat me twice,” Brooker said. “Now that said, it was pointed out to me that in pool play the No. 2 team in Pool A that’s 3-1 plays No. 1 in Pool B that’s 4-0 and if No. 2 in Pool B wins they’re in the championship game, so it’s kind of the same thing and in that regard I guess the new format has grown on me a little bit.”
The new format also leaves the Friday before the championship game open for potential makeup games if weather becomes a factor during tournament week.
But that day, Aug. 7, also has been filled with several additional events, including the annual tournament banquet in the evening, a Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau workout for selected players from each team in the morning and an Senior League World Series all-star game scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
“Where I am pleased is the new format’s reduced the number of games played a little bit [from 23 to 19], and that enables us to get that pool or bracket all-star game back in, which I think is a tremendous benefit for the kids,” said Brooker, who was able to hold similar games during the early years of the Senior League World Series in Bangor.
“It’s supposed to be a fun event, and it’s something that gives some of these kids in a noncompetitive way the chance to make friends with some of the other kids. I know some of the Bangor kids who played in it in the first few years when we did it made contacts that they’ve maintained over the years.”
