Kawaguchi City, Japan; Saipan Qualify Teams For 2006 Little League Baseball World Series
PrintWILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (July 29, 2006) –Kawaguchi City, Japan, and
Saipan of the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, have each
secured berths in 60th Little League Baseball World Series.
A team from Kawaguchi City Little League claimed the Asia Region
championship, and Saipan (CNMI) Little League collected the Pacific
Region championship. The top two teams from pool play in each of the
region tournaments were to have played one another in a championship
game. However, because of heavy rains in Hong Kong, China, the
respective champions were determined by overall record in pool play.
Kawaguchi City Little League finished the six-team Asia Region
Tournament with a 5-0 record, while Saipan Little League won the
five-team Pacific Region Tournament with a 4-0 record.
Teams from Japan have won the Little League Baseball World Series
six times, the most recent in 2003 when a team from Tokyo’s Musashi
Fuchu Little League defeated East Boynton Beach (Fla.) Little
League, 10-1, in the world championship game. This will be the first
time Kawaguchi Little League has represented the Asia Region in the
World Series.
The Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands has been represented at
the Little League Baseball World Series on two occasions (1993 and
2004). Neither time has a team from Saipan reached the world
championship game.
The Little League Baseball World Series for 11-12-year-olds will be
played in Williamsport, Aug. 18-27. Sixteen teams from around the
world will take part.
ABC will televise the Little League Baseball World Series U.S.
championship game on Aug. 26, at 3:30 p.m. The world championship
game of the Little League Baseball World Series can be seen live on
ABC at 3:30 p.m., on Aug. 27. Twenty-seven other World Series games
will be televised on ESPN or ESPN2 for a total of 29 games on
national television. Eleven World Series games also will be
televised on ESPN Deportes. For the second straight year, all 32
games of the Little League Baseball World Series tournament will be
on television.
The next berth in the Little League Baseball World Series is
expected to be decided on Saturday, July 29, when the Caribbean
Region Tournament in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, is due to end.
The U.S. region finals, which will be televised live on ESPN or
ESPN2, are: Friday, Aug 11 - Southeast (St. Petersburg, Fla., 7
p.m., ESPN) and Southwest (Waco, Texas, 9 p.m., ESPN); Saturday;
Aug. 12 - Midwest (Indianapolis, 7 p.m., ESPN) and West (San
Bernardino, Calif., 9 p.m., ESPN); Aug 13 – New England (Bristol,
Conn., 1 p.m. ESPN), Great Lakes (Indianapolis, 3 p.m., ESPN); and
Northwest (San Bernardino, Calif., 10 p.m., ESPN2); Monday, Aug. 14
- Mid-Atlantic (Bristol, Conn., 8 p.m., ESPN2). All game times are
Eastern U.S. time
