Lithuania rallies for tourney berth

Consider the newest member of the 2007 Senior League World Series field the comeback kids.

The Vilnius, Lithuania, Little League earned its ticket to Bangor on Sunday in improbable fashion, avenging a 14-0 loss in pool play by defeating previously undefeated Baden Wuerttemburg Little League of Manheim, Germany, 8-7, in the championship game of the EMEA (Europe-Middle East-Africa) regional played at Nettuno, Italy.

Lithuania joins Asia-Pacific champion Saipan Little League of Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Latin America champion – and reigning SLWS champion – Paraguana Little League of Falcon, Venezuela, as teams that already have qualified for this year’s SLWS, which runs Aug. 12-18 at Mansfield Stadium.

The EMEA champs will open play in the SLWS at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 12 against the yet-to-be determined U.S. East champion.

This will mark the first time Lithuania has sent a team to the Senior League World Series since the tournament was moved to Bangor in 2002. Previous EMEA representatives to the 10-team tournament were Moscow, Russia (2002, 2003), Rotterdam, Netherlands (2004), Tblisi, Georgia (2005) and Brussels, Belgium (2006).

The EMEA champion is 4-16 in SLWS pool play during the last five years, 0-4 last August.

Lithuania took a roundabout path to its SLWS berth. After defeating Veneto Little League of Verona, Italy, and CD 78 Little League of Montigny, France, in its first two games, it lost three consecutive games before defeating the Windmills Hoofddorp/Haarlem Little League of the Netherlands to finish with a 3-3 record in pool play at the seven-team EMEA regional.

Lithuania then avenged a 4-3 pool-play loss to the AIBC Little League of Vienna, Austria, with a 6-3 victory in Saturday’s semifinals before edging the Baden Wuerttemburg Little League team in the championship game.

Baden Wuerttemburg Little League, one of two German teams in the field, had rolled undefeated through pool play, outscoring its six opponents by a combined 78-19. The team then routed the Netherlands 17-0 in the semifinals.

The next team to join the SLWS field will be the host Maine District 3 champion. That tournament currently is under way, and the double-elimination event is scheduled to be completed either Tuesday or Wednesday.

The remaining six tournament participants, five U.S. regional champions and the Canadian champion, will be determined in early August.