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Pearl City, Hawaii, and Boynton Beach, Fla., are the most recent teams to qualify for the 2008 Senior League World Series that begins Sunday in Bangor.
They join Willemstad, Curacao; Vilnius, Lithuania; Makati City, Philippines, and host Bangor as teams already in the 10-team field. The U.S. Southwest champion was to be determined Tuesday night, with the U.S. East and Central and Canada to crown their representatives later this week.
Both Pearl City and Boynton Beach are familiar with the natural grass of Mansfield Stadium that will serve as host of the Senior League World Series for the seventh straight year.
This marks the third trip to Bangor in the last four years for Pearl City, which reached the world championship game in both 2005 and 2006 but lost to Urbandale, Iowa, in 2005 and to Falcon, Venezuela, in 2006.
The East Boynton Little League participated in the first SLWS to be held in Bangor in 2002, advancing to the championship game before falling to Willemstad, Curacao.
Pearl City earned its berth in this year’s SLWS by defeating Southern California champion Port Hueneme, Calif., 11-1, in Monday night’s U.S. West final at Upland, Calif. That game was necessitated after Port Hueneme defeated Pearl City 10-5 a day earlier.
Pearl City had edged Port Hueneme 1-0 in their first meeting of the U.S. West tournament, relegating the Southern Californians to the consolation bracket where they edged the Sunnyside Little League of Tuscon, Ariz., 4-2 to earn a berth in the championship round.
The U.S. West has been one of the most successful regions to participate in the SLWS since it relocated to Bangor. That representative has advanced out of pool play each of the last six years, reaching the championship game four times while compiling an overall record of 26-8.
Pearl City is 10-2 in its previous two trips to the Queen City, and figures to be among the favorites this year. Not only has the program had success at the Senior League level, but its Junior League program is the reigning world champion after advancing to the U.S. championship game at that level each of the previous three years.
Virtually all the players who will compete in Bangor played on at least one of those Junior League teams.
This also will mark the fourth straight year and fifth time in six years that Hawaii has represented the U.S. West in the SLWS. Hilo, Hawaii, came to Bangor in both 2003 and 2007, winning the SLWS championship in 2006 and advancing to last year’s semifinals before falling to Falcon, Venezuela, 5-4.
Boynton Beach, Fla., battled through the U.S. South regional, defeating the Northampton Little League of Hampton, Va., 11-0 in Tuesday’s championship game.
The Florida champions went 3-0 in pool play before defeating Roxboro, N.C., 6-2 in its semifinal on Monday.
Like the U.S. West representative, the U.S. South champ also has advanced through pool play in each of its six previous SLWS appearances in Bangor.
Last year, Cartersville, Ga., went just 2-2 in pool play but won a three-way tiebreaker to earn a semifinal bid. The Georgians then went on to win two more games, including a 9-0 victory over Falcon, Venezuela, to win the 2007 SLWS championship.
That marked the first time the U.S. South champ had reached the final since Boynton Beach did in 2002.
Before last year, the U.S. South representative had been ousted from the SLWS in the semifinals or title game by the team that went on to win the world championship for five consecutive years.
After an opening-day bye, Boynton Beach opens Pool A play in the 2008 SLWS against Pearl City, Hawaii, at 8 p.m. Monday. Pearl City begins play a day earlier, against the Philippines at 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
eclark@bangordailynews.net
990-8045
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