Little League's international stage arrives in Roxana

ROXANA – It’s a double delight for First State fans as an all-Delaware clash between M.O.T. (Middletown Odessa Townsend) and Lower Sussex is one of two openers kicking off the 19 ^th Little League Senior Softball World Series Monday evening.

M.O.T., coming off its championship in the East Region last Wednesday, and Lower Sussex, which earned the host Delaware District 3 berth by defeating Upper Sussex July 22, meet at 6 p.m. at the Lower Sussex Little League Complex.

Canada Region champ Calgary, Alberta and Southeast Region champ South Carolina meet in the other 6 p.m. opener.

At 8 p.m. Monday, Latin America Region winner Puerto Rico faces Southwest champion Louisiana, and Illinois (Central Region) plays Hawaii (West).

Opening ceremonies Monday begin at 4:30 p.m.

Ten teams – four international and six from the U.S. – will battle it out through pool play, leading to the championship, which will be decided Sunday, Aug. 4.

Pool A includes Lower Sussex, East, Southwest, Asia Pacific and Latin America. Teams in Pool B are Central, Southeast, West, Canada and Europe-Africa. The top four teams in each pool advance to the playoffs, and the two fifth-place teams play in the consolation game.

Tournament officials and volunteers on Saturday were making final preparations for the tournament.

“Everything is going smooth as it can be,” said LL Senior Softball Tournament Director Martin Donovan.

Teams fly into Philadelphia and are bused to the motel base. Equipment and uniform distribution were set for Saturday, along with team photos.

Sunday morning, at the motel, is a church service, and at 3 p.m. there is social gathering featuring DJ Sky Brady and an old fashion American picnic of roasted corn, watermelon, barbeque chicken, hamburgers and hot dogs.

“It’s a welcoming party for the girls to get to know each other,” said Mr. Donovan. “One of the things we found is we used to have the party on Wednesday, and the first two days the girls really didn’t know each other. It was kind of standoffish. There is more fellowship this way.”

All tournament games will be televised on ESPN+.

Staff writer Glenn Rolfe can be reached at grolfe@iniusa.org. Follow @glennrolfeBTBN on X.