BANGOR – The logos have been painted onto the plush Mansfield Stadium grass, the full 10-team field is set – finally – and the 2006 Senior League World Series is set to begin this weekend at Mansfield Stadium.

Opening ceremonies are scheduled for 8 p.m. today, followed at noon Sunday by the first of 23 games spanning seven days that will lead to the crowning of a new world baseball champion for players ages 15 and 16.

“It’s always exciting at this time of year,” said tournament director Mike Brooker this week. “We feel like we have a good handle on what we want to do and how to go about doing it. We know what we want to do logistically, it’s just a matter of getting it done.”

The final team to earn its plane tickets to Bangor was the Kennedy American Little League of Madison, Wis., which defeated host Peru, Ill., 10-0 on Friday to win the U.S. Central title.

That game originally was scheduled for Thursday afternoon, but inclement weather throughout the day and night forced postponement.

Madison, Wis., finished its regional undefeated, outscoring its opponents by a collective 47-5 in six victories, and joins Latin America champion Falcon, Venezuela, EMEA (Europe-Middle East-Asia) winner Brussels, Belgium, U.S. East champion Bloomfield, N.J., and U.S. Southwest winner Tulsa, Okla., in Pool B.

The U.S. Central champs are set to fly out of Chicago early this morning, according to Brooker, with a scheduled arrival at Bangor International Airport shortly after 11 a.m.

Earning the final SLWS berth in Pool A was Regina, Saskatchewan, which battled its way through a balanced Canadian regional to defeat Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, 4-3 in the title game at Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia, on Thursday night.

The Saskatchewan team lost two of its first three games in pool play before winning its final two games to earn the No. 2 seed in the Canadian semifinal round via tiebreaker with a head-to-head victory over Windsor, Ontario, which also finished pool play with a 3-2 record.

Saskatchewan then avenged an earlier loss to Glace Bay with a 5-0 semifinal win over the Nova Scotia champs to reach the title game. Glace Bay bounced back with an 8-3 win over Surrey, British Columbia, to earn its berth in the final.

Regina, Saskatchewan, will face Maine District 3 champion Bangor at noon Sunday in the first game of the tournament. Other Pool A teams are Asia Pacific champion Makati City, Philippines, U.S. South winner Yorktown, Va., and U.S. West champion Pearl City, Hawaii, runner-up in the 2005 SLWS.

Waiting for all the teams to arrive – only the host team and the Asia Pacific champs were in town as of late Friday afternoon – is always one of the major sources of last-minute angst for tournament organizers and may be particularly so this year given the heightened alerts for airplane travel that arose Thursday after a terrorist plot related to travel between London and the United States was uncovered.

“All we can do is wait for them to get here,” Brooker said.

SLWS-related activities begin this afternoon with free stadium tours, a baseball clinic for local Maine District 3 players led by University of Maine coach Steve Trimper, a concert in the park at 6 p.m., and performances by magician Bob Brown and comedian Chris Quimby, all leading up the opening ceremonies at 8 p.m.

On Sunday, the games begin, with the Bangor-Saskatchewan matchup kicking off five days of pool play. Four games are scheduled each day from Sunday through Thursday, with the top two teams in each pool advancing to Friday’s semifinals. The championship game is set for 2:30 p.m. Aug. 19 preceded at 11:30 a.m. by the annual all-star game featuring standouts from the eight teams that don’t reach the final.