Little League World Series in Australia

Australia Region
Most recent season or competition:
2016 Little League World Series qualification
Formerly Asia-Pacific and Middle East Region (2007—2012)
Sport Baseball
Founded 2013
No. of teams 20
Country  Australia
Most recent
champion(s)
New South Wales Hills Little League, Sydney, New South Wales
Most titles Western Australia Western Australia (3)
Official website Australian Little League

The Australia Region of Little League Baseball is a region designated for the Little League World Series. The division was founded in 2013 when Little League officially separated Australia from the Asia-Pacific region. This followed a period of explosive growth in youth baseball in the country; the first Little League-affiliated leagues in Australia were only established in 2007, but within five years, nearly 400 Little Leagues were operating, making Australia the largest country outside North America in Little League participation.

In the Little League World Series in 2013, a team from Perth, Western Australia qualified to represent Australia in its debut as a country. The Perth Central club went through the qualification series held on the Gold Coast undefeated, defeating Adelaide South in the final. However the club failed to win any games in Williamsport, losing to Mexico 12–0 in four innings under the mercy rule, and then to Puerto Rico 4–0 in the loser's bracket.

In 2014, Australia were again represented by a team from Perth. This time the Perth Metro North club qualified in the series held also on the Gold Coast, defeating Manly in the final. The team met Puerto Rico in the opening match and again the mercy rule was applied in the fourth inning 16–3. However, in this game, they scored the first runs by an Australian team in LLWS history with an RBI in the third inning. Australia then went to the loser's bracket and won as a nation for the first time in Williamsport, defeating a team from the Czech Republic 10–1. Javier Pelkonnen became the first Australian player to hit a home run in the Little League World Series in this game. Their run was cut short when the team from Mexico eliminated Australia from the series 6–2.

In 2015, Australia were represented by a team from Sydney. Cronulla qualified in the series held in Lismore, New South Wales, defeating Swan Hills in the final. Their first opponent at Williamsport were Venezuela, who defeated Australia 5-2. This was the first time in the opening match that the mercy rule had not been applied against the Australians. In the loser's bracket Australia defeated the Dominican Republic 3-0, but then ran into Mexico who eliminated Australia from the series 14-3 under the mercy rule.

Finals

Since 2013

YearHostWinnerResultRunner Up
2013 Queensland Gold Coast Western Australia Perth Central (Perth) 8-2 South Australia Adelaide South (Adelaide)
2014 Queensland Gold Coast Western Australia Perth Metro North (Perth) 3-2 New South Wales Manly (Manly)
2015 New South Wales Lismore New South Wales Cronulla (Perth) 7-3 Western Australia Swan Hills (Sydney)
2016 New South Wales Lismore New South Wales Hills (Sydney) 8-2 New South Wales Central Coast (Gosford)

LLWS results

As of the 2016 Little League World Series.

YearChampionCityLLWSRecord
2013Perth Metro Central LLWestern Australia PerthRound 10–3
2014Perth Metro North LLWestern Australia PerthRound 21–2
2015Cronulla LLNew South Wales SydneyRound 21–2
2016Hills LLNew South Wales Baulkham HillsRound 32−2

Results by state

As of the 2016 Little League World Series.

StateAustralia
Championships
Record
in LLWS
PCT
New South Wales New South Wales23–4.429
Western Australia Western Australia21–5.167
Victoria (Australia) Victoria00–0
South Australia South Australia00–0
Queensland Queensland00–0
Australian Capital Territory Australian Capital Territory 00–0
Total44–9.308

See also


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/24/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.