America’s next Juan Soto or Tanner Scott will step up to the plate Aug. 14-25 as the Little League Baseball® World Series gets underway in Williamsport, Penn.
But wait: Let’s not leave the up-and-coming female players out of the mix. The Little League Softball® World Series is celebrating 50 years and is set to take place Aug. 4-11 in Greenville, N.C.
The league launched its “Girls with Game 50” campaign (#GWG50), “marking just one of the many ways the organization is strengthening its strategic focus on female inclusivity and opportunity,” according to the organization.
Little League Baseball was founded by Carl Stotz in 1939 as a three-team league in Pennsylvania. It wasn’t until 1950 that it was formally incorporated. Today, it is the world’s largest organized youth sports program.
Although the teams are local to their communities, they are chartered through Little League International and there are a host of rules that teams must follow.
Last year, El Segundo, the “scrappy” Hollywood, Calif., team made up of 10- to 12-year-old boys, won the Baseball World Series. The girls’ team from Massapequa, N.Y., won the Softball World Series.
Practice begins in March and the season, which starts in early April, runs through late May or early June. More than 340 baseball and softball games are played, many of which are broadcast by ESPN.
Visit littleleague.org