Congrats to Mattawan LL!

As LLB Stud McGorty reported, the Little League Softball World Series has concluded and the Central team from Mattawan LL, Michigan, beat East (Pequannock LL, New Jersey) 6-2 to become World Champions!  The semi-final games yesterday and tonight's Championship game were televised live on ESPN2.

All of the teams enjoyed a week they will remember forever...  The first day, they were driven by limo to Alpenrose Dairy, a real working dairy/sports complex to meet their Host Families and get uniforms and pictures taken.  Local families provide shelter, food, transportation and tourism for the players during their stay in Portland.  They competed in the "DeMarini Skills Challenge" and the "RE/Max HomeRun Derby."  They went to PGE Park as guests of the Portland Beavers, AAA affiliate of the San Diego Padres.  They were treated to barbeques and lots, and lots of ice cream.  And as I type this, they are winding down from the Closing Ceremonies and heading for their last evening in Oregon before flying out tomorrow.

But Oregon District 4 is not done yet!  Our own District, State, and Northwest Region champs from Beaverton (Murrayhill LL) play Friday on ESPN2 at 1pm (Pacific time) in the opening game of the LL World Series in Williamsport.  At the same time, the Murrayhill LL Junior Softball team continues play in the World Series for that division in Kirkland, Washington.

Thank you to the hundreds of volunteers that make ALL of the tournaments happen.  There are too many umpires, Tournament Directors, concessions coordinators, groundskeepers, and webmasters to thank.  Not to mention the moms and dads, siblings and fans.  Thanks for making a great season of Little League Baseball and Softball in Oregon District 4 and around the world!

Murrayhill LL: Pride of Beaverton

Little League Baseball Oregon District 4 Champs, Oregon State Champs, Northwest Region Champs,...World Series Champs?

Televisions all over the Portland area were turned to ESPN2 last night to watch Beaverton, Oregon's own Murrayhill LL take on Dimond-West LL of Anchorage, Alaska, for the championship of the Northwest region and a trip to Williamsport for the Little League World Series.

Murrayhill needed extra innings to outlast Alaska,5-4.  The major daily Oregonian featured the Little Leaguers on the front page!  With their white Nike uniforms and red/teal everywhere, MHLL became the first Oregon team since 1958 to make the trip to the LL World Series.  Their first game is Friday against New England.

Oregon District 4: Still Rockin'

While many LL District staffs are winding down from an exciting summer of baseball and softball, Oregon District 4 is still humming and buzzing with activity.  The suburban Portland district is right now hosting the Western Region Junior LL BB Tournament with the championship round taking place today.  In the first game, Hawaii (Pearl City LL, Hawaii) takes on Nevada (Henderson LL, Nevada).  In the other semi-final game, Northern California (Bear River LL, Grass Valley, California) will play Arizona (Red Mountain National LL, Mesa, Arizona).  Later today, the two winners will play for the bid to represent the West in the Junior LL Baseball World Series in Taylor, Michigan.

In addition, the LL Softball World Series begins play this afternoon at 2pm at Alpenrose, right in the center of Oregon District 4.  I have some photos and articles up from yesterday's Opening Ceremonies on my blog.  Pool play begins with the East team (Pequannock LL, New Jersey) taking on the team from Latin America (Soraida Juliana LL, Willemstad, Curacao), followed by: West (Gilroy LL, California) vs. South (Morristown American National LL, Tennessee), EMEA aka "Europe/Middle East/Africa" (Ramstein American LL, Germany) vs. Asia-Pacific (Makita LL, Manila, Philippines), and Southwest (Elgin LL, Texas) vs. Host/District 4 (Cedar Mill LL, Beaverton, Oregon) in the final game under the lights on Alpenrose Main.

AND finally, Portland is buzzing about our very own District 4 and Oregon State LL BB Champs, Murrayhill, who is sweeping through the Northwest Regional in San Bernardino, California.  They will play Montana in the second semi-final game on Friday for the chance to play in the Region championship and a trip to the Little League Baseball World Series!

As if that wasn't exciting enough, the Murrayhill LL Junior Softball team went undefeated in Western Regional action and advances to the Junior League Softball World Series in Kirkland, Washington (outside of Seattle, about three hours from here)!  Congrats, Murrayhill LL!

LL Softball WS Gearing Up!

While LL Baseball Regionals are going strong, all but one of the representative teams to the Little League Softball World Series have been named and Alpenrose Stadium is gearing up for their arrival tomorrow.  Volunteers from all over the West head to Portland, Oregon, to assist with maintenance, concessions, parking, security, housing, media relations, and umpiring.  It truly is a major, year-round undertaking for these dedicated folks, who strive to make the tournament a wonderful experience for the girls, their families, coaches, and of course, the fans.  This is the 13th year that Alpenrose has been the host for this tournament.

On Friday, trailers for staff, concessions, and wi-fi began rolling in.  The LLSBWS provides live, real-time scoring to its website and wireless internet in the stands.  It is quite the high-tech experience:  Four networks, with wi-fi connectivity to all ballfields, the office and a special air conditioned trailer for the media.... 26 Mbps of bandwidth from Comcast (who donated three modems and complete network connections) and Freewire Broadband.  Networks run seven computers that keep score online, update the website, post photos of games, connect five TVs and 10 Voice over Internet Protocol phone lines, do credit card authorizations, and broadcast of an Internet audio play-by-play from professional announcers.

A TalkETalk system is set up, and free calls to any team's home town are available to coaches, players and their families!

And this all before ESPN arrives later in the week with their trailers, staff, on-air personalities, and miles of cords and wire!  The semi-finals and final game will be broadcast live on ESPN2.

Tomorrow, teams arrive from Michigan, New Jersey, Tennessee, Texas, California, the Philippines, Germany, Curacao, and Canada, joining the host team, Cedar Mill LL of Beaverton, to begin the festivities.  Opening Ceremonies follow on Wednesday and then the teams will enjoy an ice cream social, of course -- Alpenrose is a dairy as well as a site for LL, Quarter Midget racing, and bicycle racing.  It is just an all-around great venue for kids, and thanks to the many volunteers, a week to remember!

Little League and the City of Roses

Hi everyone, my name is Carrie, and like all of you, I'm a big fan of Little League Baseball and Softball.  Right now, I feel like I am in Little League heaven.  No, I am not in Williamsport, or even San Bernadino (home of the Western Regional), but Portland, Oregon, aka "The City of Roses."  Thanks to the Rose Gardens in beautiful Washington Park and the annual Rose Festival and Parade, Portland is known as the "Rose City."  We have a local LL called "Rose City LL" and our NBA Trailblazers play at the Rose Garden Arena.

This afternoon, we will head over to the LL Junior Baseball Western Regional, hosted by our own Oregon District 4.  Our son will be 13 next spring, so we are very interested in checking out the next level of LL.  Across the Columbia River in Vancouver, Washington, the LL Softball Western Regional is going on.  The winner will advance to the LL Softball World Series, which takes place at Alpenrose Dairy.  That's right, a Rose City dairy is home to one of the nicest LL facilities in the country!  I will write more about that in the next few weeks...

And we just returned from an impromptu road trip to Pendleton, Oregon, about four hours away to cheer on our SunCreek LL 9/10 All-Stars in the State Tournament.  Several of the boys were teammates of our son, and the manager was his regular season coach.  This SunCreek team was our League's first ever to advance out of District 4.  It was very exciting to watch them go undefeated at the next level and bring home the "State Champions" banner!  I enjoyed blogging about their run through the tournaments, as well as my son's 11/12 Honors team and various local LL teams this spring and summer, and look forward to bringing you more LL action from the Rose City and beyond!