From August 13-19, 10 teams from around the globe will compete for the Junior Little League Softball World Series title in Everest Park. This is the eighth year in a row that Kirkland has hosted the event.
One of the perks is that a team from District 9 represents the local area each year. The Kirkland National Little League team - which was undefeated all season - topped the team from Redmond in the District 9 playoff game July 11.
Teams represent nine different regions of the world, including Europe, Latin America, Canada and the Asia-Pacific. The United States is parceled into the South, Southwest, East, West and Central.
A team from Germany, of the American Ramstein Air Force Base, will represent Europe. A team from the Philippines will represent Asia-Pacific. Other teams have yet to be determined; some of the playoff games don't finish until Aug. 10.
Teams can comprise of up to 14 13- and 14-year-old players, two coaches and a manager. Twelve umpires, one from Aruba, one from the Philippines and the rest from the U.S., will preside over the games.
The tournament will cost $85,000 to $90,000, assistant tournament director Diane Toberman said. Most of the costs lie in housing the more than 150 players, coaches, managers and umpires in the Coast Hotel in Bellevue. The tournament could use more sponsors, Toberman said, as well as scorekeepers, concessions stand volunteers, announcers and fundraisers.
"It'd be great to get more people involved," Toberman said. "Our problem is that a lot of people don't know about it."
The opening ceremonies will be July 13 at noon. Jeneane Descombes and Rose Folder, who both played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, will throw opening pitches.
The championship week includes special events for the players. On Aug. 15, the players go to the Kirkland Teen Center where they can karaoke and send e-mails home. A banquet is held for the girls on Aug. 17, where they get World Series medallions.
"I don't think people realize that it is a big deal," Toberman said. "It is a true world series because they come from all over the world."
That mixing of different ethnicities and cultures between the girls, Toberman says, is the most special thing about the event. At last year's closing ceremonies, all the girls were given pennies as they marched onto the field. The announcer read a poem about a traveling penny, and at the end, asked the girls if they had made a friend that week, to go and give her that penny.
"It was a real tear-jerker," Toberman said. "These girls get a real rapport with each other."
The tournament creates a tight-knit group of girls from all walks of life. Last year, a team from a small peanut-growing town in Texas played, bringing hundreds of peanuts with them.
"We were eating peanuts every night," Toberman said with a laugh. "Those are the things you're always going to remember."
There's plenty of goodwill to go around at the games, Toberman said. Last year, a team from Russia showed up without much equipment. The umpires took up a collection and bought new uniforms for the entire team. A father of a player on last year's host team, Kirkland, also bought uniforms for a team from the Philippines.
Another year, a team from Aruba was left out in the cold when a chilling rain storm struck and the girls were freezing in their short-sleeved uniforms. Sweatpants and sweatshirts were donated almost immediately.
"These are the little things that people on the outside don't see," Toberman says. "It's not just 10 teams playing ball and one team wins."
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Parking and admission to the games are free. Four games are played daily from August 13-18. The championship game is Aug. 19 at 4 p.m. Everest Park is located at 500 8th St. S. Information: www.jrsoftballworld series.com.
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