Summertime at the Ball Parks

We are very fortunate to work in the "education industry." John has the month of July off from his job as principal of North Plains School and I am home the same time as the kids from Rock Creek School. So we very much enjoyed the freedom to travel and be spectators for tons of Little League Baseball and Softball this summer. We coached, watched and cheered on teams in 9/10 Baseball Honors and All-Stars, 11 Year Old All-Stars, 11/12 Honors and All-Stars, and 9/10 Softball. We spent hours at Westlake Park in Lake Oswego, West Union fields in Hillsboro, Loiland Field in Adams, Oregon, (12 miles northeast of Pendleton) and of course, Alpenrose Dairy, the most beautiful LL facility in the country (just my opinion :). And it has been a blast.

Now comes the stretch run for the various LL tournaments around the world, as teams begin to qualify for the different World Series tournaments played around the country. The most famous, of course, takes place in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and all of its games are broadcast live on ESPN. But did you know that the equivalent softball tournament, the Little League Softball World Series, takes place at Alpenrose? And that the semi-final and championship games are also broadcast live on ESPN?

I hope you'll take a break from soccer, football and back-to-school activities to take your kids out to this tournament. You will get a chance to see a true WORLD Series, as teams from all over the world will call Portland home for a week. Teams will come in from all over the country and Canada, with their families, to play softball and visit Multnomah Falls, Cannon Beach, the Rose Gardens, and Nike. It is truly an amazing experience for an 11/12 year old girl. And, this tournament provides the rare opportunity for ESPN to broadcast live from the Rose City! Have you ever wondered what goes into such an endeavor? Do you have kids interested in journalism or broadcasting? Want to see the equipment up close and meet on-air commentators? Alpenrose is the place, August 10-16.

I am honored to be blogging about Little League Baseball and Softball on a national site for the folks at eTeamz. Please take a moment to bookmark this page: LL World Series. My first entry is up this morning, and it has been a lot of fun. It will cover all the various tournaments in the next few weeks from different viewpoints around the country.

Thank you for all your kind comments and support, and keep 'em coming! I love to hear what you think...