I was lucky enough to get selected to umpire at the Little League Baseball Eastern Regional this year (2012). This is the tournament for 12-year-olds – the team that wins goes to Williamsport for the Little League World Series. (I say “the” because there are actually 8 different Little League World Series – Majors, Juniors, Seniors and Big League in both Baseball and Softball. I umpired at the 2007 Big League Softball World Series, but the one for baseball in Williamsport is the “biggie” that everyone thinks of.)
Those who know me know that I lived and umpired in Florida (Southern Region) for many years. Down there, there are 8 teams that come to the Regional. In this neck of the woods, things are done slightly differently – the “Eastern Regional” is actually organized in two parts:
- The “New England Regional Tournament,” in which Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island play.
- The “Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament,” in which New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and Washington DC play.
Each of those groups of six play separately down to a champion, with the winners of both “halves” going to the Little League World Series, as opposed to a single team coming out of the whole shootin’ match. I’m told that this is also the case in a number of other regions. (Thanks for that info, Mark!)
You can see the schedules and teams involved at http://www.littleleague.org/series/2012divisions/llbb/qualify/newengland.htm and http://www.littleleague.org/series/2012divisions/llbb/qualify/midatlantic.htm.
The festivities kick off tomorrow (August 2nd) with an umpire meeting at 1:00, manager meeting at 4:00 and then dinner, etc. I’ll be trying to relay my experiences here as I can, so stay tuned.
Well, back to packing!
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