Two of the 11 teams received automatic spots in the series. One, of course, was the host team, South Carolina District One.
The second automatic spot in the BLWS goes this year to Mexico. Mexico and Puerto Rico take turns claiming an automatic spot in the tournament as the second Latin American team. Whichever team does not receive the automatic spot has the opportunity to earn a spot by winning the Latin American Regional tournament.
Puerto Rico, which won the international side of the BLWS brackets last season, was unable to claim the Latin American Regional Title and an opportunity to return to the BLWS championship game.
The Dominican Republic won the Latin American Regional for the second straight year, defeating Puerto Rico 5-4 in the championship game.
Guam will represent the Asia-Pacific Region in the 2009 BLWS, returning for the first time since 2006.
Guam defeated Siapan, the team that advanced to the BLWS in 2007 and 2008, 9-2 in the Asia-Pacific Regional championship game.
Germany will return for the second straight year to the BLWS, representing EMEA. Germany defeated the Netherlands 24-7 in the EMEA Regional championship game.
Germany has represented EMEA in three of the last four BLWS, and four times since the tournament moved to Easley in 2001.
The only International spot left in the BLWS lineup is for Canada, and the winner of that regional will not be decided until Sunday.
As of Wednesday night, the host team from Windsor, Ontario had a 3-0 record in round-robin play with two games remaining. British Columbia had a 2-0 record with three games remaining.
Once all six teams have played their round-robin tournament games, the team with the best record will face the team with the fourth-best record in one semi-final Saturday, while the second- and third-place teams will face each other in the other semi-final game. The winners of those two teams will play Sunday, with the winner advancing to the BLWS.
On the domestic side of the field, Florida District 17 was the first team to win a regional title, winning the U.S. Southeast crown by defeating the host team, Florida District 21, 8-4 Tuesday night in the championship game.
What makes the Florida state champs’ story so amazing is that District 17 had lost to the host team 17-1 during pool play.
Florida District 17 had defeated South Carolina District 7 in the semi-finals Monday night.
Also earning a spot in the 2009 BLWS is Rushton, Louisiana, the host team of the U.S. Southwest tournament.
Louisiana had stayed in the winners’ bracket in the double-elimination tournament by defeating New Mexico 17-0 and Texas-East 12-0.
Texas-West earned its way back from the losers’ bracket and defeated Louisiana 4-3, forcing one final game for the Southwest title.
Louisiana defeated Texas-West 12-10 in the final game to earn the U.S. Southwest championship.
The remaining three regionals will be determined in the next few days. In the U.S. East Regional, New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island had all been eliminated as of Wednesday. The host team from Dover, Del., as well as the state champions from Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey were still in the winners’ bracket. Pennsylvania and Massachusetts were fighting to stay alive in the losers’ bracket.
In the U.S. Central Regional, Illinois has earned a spot in the best-of-three championship series that begins Friday. Two games from Wednesday were postponed due to weather. The host team from Wyoming, Mich., was in both, and wins in both games, which were re-scheduled for Thursday, would put the host team in the championship series. Otherwise, Indiana, with a 2-1 record going into its game against the host team at noon, Thursday, would likely be the second team in the championship series. Results of those games were not available at press time.
The championship series is a best-of-three series, with games one and two played Friday, and game three played Saturday, if necessary.
As of press time, the Western Regional was still up in the air. Hawaii led Pool A with a 3-0 record. Southern California and Arizona each had 2-0 records in Pool B. The championship game is scheduled to be played tonight. Other details were not available at press time.
For updates on the BLWS, check out our Web site at www.theeasleyprogress.com.
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