New Jersey team gains berth in World Series

BANGOR – Freehold Township, N.J., became the eighth team to qualify for the 2004 Senior League Baseball World Series, winning the U.S. East championship Thursday afternoon.

The Freehold Township Little League all-stars capped off an unbeaten run through the 11-team East regional, upending the host team, West Deptford Township, N.J., 15-3 in the final.

The Freehold team finished the tournament with a 4-0 record. West Deptford finished 5-2 after winning three elimination games before falling to Freehold.

Freehold joins Europe-Middle East-Africa (EMEA) champion Rotterdam, Netherlands, Latin America winner Maracaibo, Venezuela, and U.S. Southwest representative San Antonio, Texas, as Pool B qualifiers for the SLWS, which begins Sunday at Mansfield Stadium in Bangor.

The New Jersey team will open World Series play at 3 p.m. against the yet-to-be determined U.S. Central champion. The Ankeny (Iowa) American Little League will play the Humboldt Park Little League from Chicago for the U.S. Central title Thursday evening. Both Central finalists have 4-0 records in that 12-team tournament.

One other Pool A team also was to be determined Thursday night, when Valleyfield, Quebec, faced the Whalley Little League of Surrey, British Columbia, in the Canadian championship game at Coquitlam, British Columbia. Each of those teams has a 5-1 record in the six-team regional, with the British Columbia team handing the Quebec squad its only loss, 5-0 on the opening day of the tourney.

The Canadian champion will join host Bangor, Asia-Pacific winner Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. South winner Dade City, Fla., and U.S. Wednesday qualifier Oxnard, Calif., in Pool A.

Maracaibo boasts rich LL history

Latin American champion Maracaibo, Venezuela, will bring a significant history of recent baseball success to this year’s Senior League World Series.

That success has been divided among several Little League programs in the city, Venezuela’s second largest with a population estimated at 1.2 million.

This year’s Senior League World Series representative comes from the San Francisco Little League.

Another Maracaibo team, the Coquivacoa Little League, won the 1996 SLWS.

Two years before that, that same Coquivacoa team won the 1994 Little League world championship (ages 11-12) at Williamsport, Pa., giving Latin America its first championship in that age group since 1958.

That would be the first of two LLWS titles the city won during a six-year span. The city’s Sierra Maestra Little League won the age 11-12 LLWS title in 2000.

And Maracaibo also owns a championship in the Big League World Series (ages 16-18), having won that title in 1986.