Junior League World Series

For the softball world series, see Junior League World Series (softball).
Junior League World Series
Sport Baseball
Founded 1981
No. of teams 11
Country International
Venue(s) Heritage Park
Most recent
champion(s)		 Taiwan Taoyuan, Taiwan
Most titles  Puerto Rico
 Florida
 Taiwan (5)
Official website LittleLeague.org

The Junior League World Series is a baseball tournament for children aged 13, 14, and 15 years old.[1] The tournament is held annually at Heritage Park in Taylor, Michigan. It is patterned after the Little League World Series, which was named for the World Series in Major League Baseball.

The Junior League World Series is one of eleven tournaments sponsored by Little League International. Each of them brings baseball or softball teams from around the world together in one of four age divisions. The tournament structure for each division's World Series is similar to that used for the Little League Baseball World Series.

Tournament history

The tournament started in 1981, and was originally created for 13-year-old players competing in Little League's Senior League division (which at the time included 13- to 15-year-olds). In 1999, Little league spun a separate Junior League division off from the Senior League division, which included 13- and 14-year-old players (currently, 15-year-olds are also eligible if their date of birth is after May 1 of the current season). Unlike the Little League World Series — which has sixteen regions (eight in the U.S. and eight international) — the Junior League World Series has only eleven regions.[2] The eleven regional champions are divided into two pools (USA and International). The two best teams from each pool advance to the semi-finals, to determine the US champion and the International champion. The semi-final winners play for the World Series Championship. The losing teams face off in classification games.

Originally only US teams played in the tournament. But as time progressed, international teams began to participate. Puerto Rico was the first international entry in 1982. Mexico followed in 1986, Canada in 1988, the first European team in 1990, youth baseball powerhouse Taiwan in 2010, and fast growing Australia in 2016. Prior to 2001 Mexico and Puerto Rico received automatic berths into the tournament. But as competition increased, a Latin America regional tournament was formed. Mexico now receives an automatic berth to the tournament in even numbered years, and Puerto Rico in odd numbered years, (each team can still represent Latin America, when they do not have an automatic bid).[3]

The five United States regions are:

The six International regions are:

List of champions

Year Winner Region Score Runner–Up Region
1981 Ohio Boardman, Ohio Central
1982[4] Florida Tampa, Florida South 6–1 Illinois Libertyville, Illinois Central
1983 Puerto Rico Manati, Puerto Rico Puerto Rico
1984 Hawaii Pearl City, Hawaii West
1985 Florida Tampa, Florida South
1986 Maryland Waldorf, Maryland East
1987 California Rowland Heights, California West
1988 Mexico Mexicali, Mexico Mexico 11–6 Hawaii Hilo, Hawaii West
1989 Puerto Rico Manati, Puerto Rico Puerto Rico
1990 Puerto Rico Yabuoca, Puerto Rico Puerto Rico
1991 Texas Spring, Texas South
1992 Arizona Tucson, Arizona West
1993 Puerto Rico Cayey, Puerto Rico Puerto Rico Mexico Mexico Mexico
1994 California Thousand Oaks, California West
1995 Louisiana Lake Charles, Louisiana South
1996 Texas Spring, Texas South 7–5 Hawaii Aiea, Hawaii West
1997 New Hampshire Salem, New Hampshire East 4–1 California Mission Viejo, California West
1998 California Mission Viejo, California West 6–2 & 9–6 Texas Waco, Texas South
1999 Puerto Rico Arroyo, Puerto Rico Latin America 1–0 Mexico Hermosillo, Mexico Mexico
2000 Hawaii Aiea, Hawaii West 2–1 Canada Langley, Canada Canada
2001 Hawaii Aiea, Hawaii West 6–5 Venezuela San Francisco, Venezuela Latin America
2002 Cartersville, Georgia South 3–2 Panama David, Panama Latin America
2003 California La Mirada, California West 8–7 Panama Santiago, Panama Latin America
2004 Florida Tampa, Florida South 5–2 Venezuela Punto Fijo, Venezuela Latin America
2005 Panama Panama City, Panama Latin America 3–0 Florida Tarpon Springs, Florida South
2006 Texas El Campo, Texas Southwest 2–1 Mexico Guaymas, Mexico Mexico
2007 Hawaii Pearl City, Hawaii West 6–2 Philippines Makati, Philippines Asia–Pacific
2008 Curaçao Willemstad, Curaçao Latin America 5–2 Hawaii Hilo, Hawaii West
2009 Arizona Scottsdale, Arizona West 9–1 Aruba Oranjestad, Aruba Latin America
2010 Taiwan Taipei, Taiwan Asia–Pacific 9–1 Texas Tyler, Texas Southwest
2011 Florida Tampa, Florida Southeast 2–1 Taiwan Taoyuan, Taiwan Asia–Pacific
2012 Florida Rockledge, Florida Southeast 12–10 Aruba Oranjestad, Aruba Latin America
2013 Taiwan Taoyuan, Taiwan Asia–Pacific 11–2 Arizona Rio Rico, Arizona West
2014 Taiwan Taichung, Taiwan Asia–Pacific 9–1 Texas Corpus Christi, Texas Southwest
2015 Taiwan Taichung, Taiwan Asia–Pacific 12–0 Virginia Stephens City, Virginia Southeast
2016 Taiwan Taoyuan, Taiwan Asia–Pacific 9–1 Hawaii Kapaa, Hawaii West

Championships won by country/state

Team Championships Last
Puerto Rico Puerto Rico 5 1999
Florida Florida 2012
Taiwan Taiwan 2016
California California 4 2003
Hawaii Hawaii 2007
Texas Texas 3 2006
Arizona Arizona 2 2009
Ohio Ohio 1 1981
Maryland Maryland 1986
Mexico Mexico 1988
Louisiana Louisiana 1995
New Hampshire New Hampshire 1997
Georgia (U.S. state) Georgia 2002
Panama Panama 2005
Curaçao Curaçao 2008

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Junior League Baseball. Little League. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
  2. ↑ 2010 Junior League Regional Tournaments and World Series Results. Little League Baseball Incorporated. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
  3. ↑ http://www.cityoftaylor.com/node/482
  4. ↑ After Runner-up Years, Belmont Heights Dominated the World, and that's a Fact. . St. Petersburg Times

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/25/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.