These young, talented players had traveled a long road to qualify for the Regional Tournament. Kit Golden, West Region Director, explained to us that although each state differs based on the amount of teams competing, the players had to be selected to a tournament team. Those tournament teams then had to win their district, sectional, and state tournaments before making their way to Al Houghton Stadium in San Bernardino. Golden then goes on to explain the makeup of the three regions.
“We actually host three separate tournaments for baseball. They're broken up geographically. The West region is Arizona, North California, Southern California and Hawaii. We also host the mountain region, which is Colorado, Montana, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming. And then we host the Northwest, which is Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. So really, out of our 13 teams that are coming here to compete, three will have the opportunity to advance to the World Series.”
Little League baseball has always been a volunteer-driven organization. Of course all coaches and players are appreciated, but those behind the scenes deserve to be recognized as well. It’s the volunteers that hold the tournaments together.
“The volunteers on the ground level are also the ones that host the tournaments, that score keep the game, that run the snack bar. So without those volunteers, there would be no tournament for these players to participate in.”
Golden goes on to encourage folks to show their support at the games.
“We do not charge for our games. Here, it's some of the best baseball and softball that you will be able to see. We have a stadium waiting for everybody to come out. The games are incredible. The energy is electric. And as long as you can bear the heat for the day games, or, you know, choose to come out in the evening, you're going to get a lot of really good diamond action for very little price.”
Tournament play begins August 3 at noon. The first game of the West Region Tournament will be on August 4 at 3 p.m. with the Central East Maui team from Hawaii and the Land Park Pacific team from Northern California competing. Later in the day at 6 p.m. the Litchfield Park team from Arizona will be competing against the Eastvale LL Southern California team. Opening Ceremonies are August 2 starting at 5 p.m. You can find the schedule for all three tournaments on our website at kvcrnews.org
https://www.littleleague.org/world-series/2024/llbws/tournaments/west-region/#schedule
https://www.littleleague.org/world-series/2024/llbws/tournaments/northwest-region/#schedule
https://www.littleleague.org/world-series/2024/llbws/tournaments/mountain-region/#schedule