For the second year in a row, the province of New South Wales will be representing the Australia Region at the Little League Baseball® World Series in Williamsport this August. Hills Little League from Sydney emerged victorious at the 2016 Australia Region Little League Baseball Championship in Lismore, defeating Central Coast 7-3 on Monday, June 13. Twenty teams participated in the six-day event in New South Wales.
Australia remains one of the fastest-growing Little League® countries in the world. This will mark the fourth year that the Australia Region Champion receives an automatic berth in the Little League Baseball World Series. Perth Metro Central and Perth Metro Northern represented the region in 2013 and 2014, respectively. In 2015, Cronulla Little League from Sydney made the long trip to Williamsport, winning one game before falling to the team from Mexico. A team from Cronulla Little League, featuring four players from the Little League Baseball World Series team, will represent the Australia Region for the very first time at the 2016 Junior League Baseball World Series.
The entire event featured great plays, competitive games, and outstanding sportsmanship. The boys from Hills were dominant throughout the tournament, scoring 75 runs while allowing only four over seven games. Volunteers had to rally to prepare the fields for the tournament, after Linsmore was put on an evacuation alert the week of the tournament. The fields suffered from significant flooding, but, in two days’ time, were ready for play at the start of the tournament, on June 11. For more information on the 2016 Little League Baseball Australia Region Tournament, visit LittleLeague.org.au.
The first-round pairings for the 2016 Little League Baseball World Series will be drawn and announced on Thursday, June 16. Spanning the course of 10 days, 32 games will be played in the 2016 Little League Baseball World Series in Williamsport, culminating in the Championship Game, which is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Sunday, August 28. For more information on the 2016 Little League Baseball World Series, visit LLBWS.org.