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PLAINS TWP. — The little guys of Little League Baseball will get a crack at experiencing some big excitement this summer.
And the big boys will get a chance to feel like big shots by playing their district championships on television in a pool play tournament that seems here to stay.
The brackets and matchups were set Wednesday for the Districts 31 and 16 Little League Baseball tournaments, which open next week with Back Mountain American and Back Mountain National competing in the same 11-12 division pool in District 31 and Pittston and Pittston Township separated in the District 16 pools.
“The most exciting time of year in Little League,” District 16/31 administrator Bob Bertoni called it.
It just became a lot more thrilling at a couple of levels of All-Star play.
Bertoni announced the West Pittston Little League Field will host the East Region Championship Tournament for the 9-10 level — meaning the younger All-Stars from around the Wyoming Valley will be vying for a shot to play in their home area if they can win the Pennsylvania championship.
“We’ll have champions from Maine, all the way down to Maryland,” Bertoni said, noting that most East Region teams will be housed at the Woodlands. “The (9-10 regional) director called me, asked me, ‘Do you know a league there that might be able to handle it?’ I thought West Pittston was a great choice. It’ll bring in 100 families.”
The District 16 and District 31 title games in the 11-12 division will be brought straight to fans’ living rooms, as those title games will form a doubleheader shown live on July 14 on Fox (WOLF-TV). Between games, the District 16 and 31 softball champions — who will be decided by then — will be introduced.
Bertoni said Luzerne County Community College, the Woodlands, Mericle Commercial Real Estate and Pizza Bella are the four major sponsors of the television deal, orchestrated by former WBRE-TV sports director and current district Little League officer Phil Schoener. Bertoni estimates the television deal will bring the district little leagues some $5,000.
It’ll all be a culmination of the pool play format that was floated by Bertoni and implemented just last season, replacing the old single-elimination tournaments.
“It gives a great opportunity for our kids to play more games,” Bertoni said. “It also gives our host sights an opportunity to raise more money with concessions.”
Bertoni said last year’s first season of pool play drew rave reviews, but the ride through it wasn’t completely smooth.
“For the first time, we had a few bumps in the road,” said Bertoni, who was officially selected to the District 16/31 administrator role after serving that position in an interim capacity in 2014. “Last year, we got a lot of complaints — with the implementation of the tiebreakers, some fans got a little confused.
“We cleaned it up this year, with the assistance of the (district) committee. I think it’s going to be awesome.”
One new addition to watch for includes a social media explosion from District 16 and 31.
Results will now be on Facebook and Twitter, with select games being covered by volunteer writers. And if you want instant results, there’s now an app for that. Fans, coaches and players can check out up-to-the-minute results and scores of other games by downloading the app from the PAdistrict16-31.com.
“That’s an awesome advantage we have this year,” Bertoni said.