Welcome to District3.org / 2007 Senior League Softball World Series, Sussex County, Delaware

Welcome to 2007 Senior League Softball World Series

There was a lot of interest in the World Series Champion Southwest team's switch hitting this year.

If you watched the game, you noticed that some of the girls came to bat as lefties, then moved to their natural right handed position once they had 2 strikes.

The truth is that the girls of San Antonio were not a team of switch hitters, they were in position to slap bunt - something that is a big part of American Women's Softball but usually seen at much higher levels of play.

The idea is to come to bat as a lefty, and flip the end of the bat at the softball as it crosses the plate while stepping out towards first base. The batter "slaps" the ball to make it roll slowly down the 3rd base line.

If you do it right, the ball barely trickles down the line towards 3rd, while the batter, with a 3 step head start, cruises into first with an infield single. Swinging from the first base side of the plate, the batter is usually well down the line before any infielders can get to the ball.

Once a right handed batter has 2 strikes, however, they have to turn around and bat normally, since bunting a foul ball with 2 strikes is an automatic strike out. The batter also has to call time to change sides since she cannot step over the plate with the bat in her hand - its also an automatic out. The Southwest girls switched sides once they got 2 strikes.

If you watch the college Softball World Series, you see many more leadoff batters who are skilled in slap bunting. Not sure how you pitch to those athletes, but the technique is almost as unnerving to a team as that first pitch home run is in baseball.

And that's the real reason why those ladies from San Antonio kept switching sides of the plate. They were "Slap Bunting."

Mark your calendars

Little League International has announced that the Little League Senior Softball World Series returns to Roxanna and the Lower Sussex Little League Complex August 3-7, 2007.

Last year was a first for the Senior Softball World Series - it was televised live on the ESPN family of networks, with a replay on ESPN2 later in August.

It was part of a ramping up of ESPN coverage of Little League Softball games - the semifinal and championship games of the Little League Softball World Series, as well as the championship games of the ... Senior League Softball and Big League Softball also were carried on the ESPN family of networks.

Little League Baseball and Softball is the world’s largest organized youth sports program, with more than 2.6 million players and 1 million adult volunteers in every U.S. state and scores of other countries.

The World of Softball comes to Lower Sussex, Delaware every August. Watch for more announcements...

Southwest exploded for 3 runs in the 4th, 3 in the 5th, and 2 in the 6th to easily beat Central 8-0 in the 2007 Little League Senior Softball World Series final Saturday.

Both Sam DeFord [Central] and Blanca Idar [Southwest], the starting pitchers, took no hitters into the 3rd inning, easily controlling the action before Southwest's Amando Delgado led off the 3rd with a single to left.

Central's Santana Bozman singled and Beth Cossey walked with both players moving into scoring position on Ashleigh Bousquet's sac bunt, but Southwest's Idar got the next batter to hit a pop fly to first and the threat was over.

In the top of the 4th, Southwest's Casey Santos doubled to center, followed by Jackie Gonzalez' double to left, scoring Santos. Santos and Amanda Hinojosa scored on Amanda Delgado's two RBI double.

Southwest added the three runs in the 5th and 2 more in the 6th to put the game out of reach. Several times it looked like Central would mount a comeback, but Southwest's defense would make a big play to end those threats.

Southwest's Blanca Idar got the win striking out 6 and scattering 4 hits. Sam DeFord took the loss. The Scoresheets and Box Score can be found here.

In the consolation game, District 3 beat West 7-1. The Line score and other information can be found here.

ESPN2 will rebroadcast the championship game on Monday, August 27 at 2 PM.

The 2008 Little League Senior Softball World Series is planned to return to Lower Sussex Little League complex next August. Thanks to all who made it a very memorable event, especially Laurel LL, Arrowhead LL, Indiana Dist 11 LL, and our 2007 Champ - Northwest LL of San Antonio, Texas!

We ran through a list of people to thank during the opening to the final game, but here it is again:

A Big World Series Thank You to:

     + The Lower Sussex and Millsboro Grounds Crews
     + The Umpires
     + The Players and Coaches
     + The Bus Drivers
     + Scorekeepers and Announcers
     + The Internet guys and gals
     + The Food Service People
     + The Housing Folks at Bayside
     + The Team Moms
     + All the Sponsors and Advertisers who provided the cash to make this go.
     + ESPN for getting the word out about our World Series
     + All the TV, Radio and Newspaper folks who reported on our daily do'ins.

And anyone else who helped make this event the largest totally volunteer run event in Sussex County, maybe Delmarva.

THANK YOU!!!!

If you'd like to join us next year, email us at [email protected]. We'll be in touch, meanwhile - Congrats to Southwest for winning and to the rest of the teams for playing hard and making this a week of Little League Softball to remember.

You can now see the individual team stats by going to the roster page and clicking on the graphic right below the Managers and Coaches' names.

If you don't agree with the numbers, have your coach send us their player and position changes from the game. We cannot change the official scorekeeper's rulings, but we can correct any position or player changes to make things accurate.

You can send a recap of your changes to: [email protected]. You should submit them by half inning, and which player went to which spot in the batting order and/or what position they were playing at the time of the switch for your team only.

A word about positions: a player coming to bat is a pinch hitter until they actually take the field defensively. A special Pinch runner is designated as "DR" on our software.

Thanks for your understanding - scoring a senior softball game under the present rules can get very complicated. If you don't believe that, check out some of the box scores on the games pages.

THANK YOU!!!!

Additional Local information:

Prior Year's Results: