Latin America has crowned its representative for the 2004 Senior League World Series to be held in Bangor next month.

But unlike in the two previous two tournaments held at Mansfield Stadium, that representative will not be Curacao. Curacao, the 2002 world champion and a semifinalist last year, was ousted in pool play last week.

Instead, the San Francisco Little League of Maricaibo, Venezuela, will represent Latin America after edging Panama City, Panama, 8-7, at Willemstad, Curacao, on Saturday in the regional championship game.

Venezuela went 5-0 in the 12-team Latin American regional. Panama, which defeated Curacao 4-3 to win its pool, finished with a 4-1 record.

Venezuela will be joined by nine other teams at the Senior League World Series, scheduled for Aug. 15-21. One of those teams will be the host representative from Maine District 3, which covers Greater Bangor.

The other participants will be crowned at regional tournaments throughout the next month. The Asia-Pacific tournament is under way at Agana, Guam, with the championship game scheduled for Thursday.

An expanded region, EMEA (for Europe, the Middle East and Africa), will hold its championship tournament July 18-24 at Almere, Netherlands. Solely a European qualifier in previous years, EMEA was designed to incorporate areas of the world not previously covered by a regional, though this year’s Senior League field from that region consists entirely of European teams.

The rest of the regional tournaments will be held Aug. 6-12: Canada, at Coquitlam, British Columbia; U.S. West, at San Juan Capistrano, Calif.; U.S. East, at West Deptford, N.J.; U.S. Southwest, at Brenham, Texas; U.S. South, at Tocca, Ga.; and U.S. Central, at Peru, Ill.

The 2004 Senior League World Series will feature two-five team pools. Pool A will have Asia-Pacific, Canada, U.S. South, U.S. West and the host team. Pool B has EMEA, Latin America, U.S. Central, U.S. East and U.S. Southwest.

The tournament schedule has five days of pool play, with each team playing four games. The top two teams in each pool advance to the semifinals.

Hilo, Hawaii, is the defending Senior League World Series champion. The 2003 U.S. West winner defeated Curacao 3-2 in its semifinal and outscored U.S. South champion Chesterfield, Va., 16-8, in the final.

Senior League baseball, for ages 14-16, currently boasts more than 5,000 leagues worldwide.