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A new champion will be crowned as the 69th annual International Little League Baseball World Series

South Dakota makes its first appearance, Japan in quest of its 11th championship, field once again totals 16

Arnie Leshin

By ARNIE LESHIN, Santa Fe Today

What’s new? There will be a new champion. What’s old? It’s the 69th annual International Little League Baseball World Series.

What’s new? South Dakota Sioux Falls LL making it to Williamsport, Pa., for the first time. What’s old? Of the other United States teams, California, Connecticut, Michigan, New Jersey, Texas and Washington have all won the World Series at least once.

What’s new? Australia, Canada, Dominican Republic and Italy have never won the World Series. What’s old? Japan goes for its 11th championship, South Korea for its fourth, Venezuela for its third.

What’s new? Well, packing in about 45,000 on the final day isn’t. What’s old? The hills will be filled with the sounds of baseball.

What’s the same? Sixteen teams in all, 8 in the USA field and 8 in the International field. What’s old? The fields of play — J. Lamade Stadium and Volunteer Stadium.

What’s next is the 2017 field. Of the USA field, the defending champion from Maine-Endwell, N.Y., did not make it this time. The runner-up, South Korea is back, but with West Seoul replacing Seoul.

With the exception of South Dakota, it’s familiar territory for Southern California, Connecticut, Michigan, New Jersey, Texas and Washington, while North Carolina has been here before, but has yet to finish first.

For the International teams, it’s back-to-back for Italy’s Emllia LL and Australia’s Hills LL, while British Columbia, Dominican Republic, Japan, Mexico, South Korea and Venezuela are no strangers to the greatest youth event on the planet.

The Regions are the final stop before the World Series and the USA Regional games have fields of six, and two have eight. But Australia and Japan tower over the rest with 16 each in their fields, Europe-America 14, Mexico 13, Asia-Pacific 9, Caribbean 8, Latin-America 7, and Canada 6.

Just to let you know that play begins Thursday and it’s USA versus USA and International versus International for the first two days. After that, the winners and losers brackets are set up. The championship game will have the USA champion against the International champion, and there’s also third, fifth, and seventh place contests.

It’s fun in the sun (if it’s out) and it’s the country’s National Pastime as fans make their way to South Williamsport and others get set to view the games on national television, with the ESPN networks showing all but the final on NBC.

The schedule for the first two days:

Thursday, Aug. 17:

2 p.m. Japan vs. Australia; 4 p.m. Northwest vs. West; 6 p.m. Caribbean vs. Asia-Pacific; 8 p.m. Midwest vs. Southeast.

Friday, Aug. 18:

1 p.m. Latin-America vs. Mexico; 3 p.m. Mid-Atlantic vs. Northeast; 5 p.n. Canada vs. Europe-Africa; 7 p.m. Southwest vs. Great Lakes.

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