Junior, Senior & Big League Baseball

"Big League Baseball" redirects here. For professional baseball commonly known as the big leagues, see Major League Baseball.
"Intermediate League Baseball," "Junior League Baseball," and "Senior League Baseball" also redirect here.
Intermediate, Junior, and Senior League Baseball

Intermediate, Junior, and Senior League Baseball are divisions of Little League Baseball.
Sport Baseball
Founded 1981
Founder Carl Stotz
TV partner(s) ABC, ESPN
Official website http://www.littleleague.org/

Intermediate, Junior, and Senior League Baseball are youth baseball divisions of Little League Baseball that are considered more advanced and difficult than younger Little League divisions due to more advanced rules, including the ability to lead-off and steal as the pitcher breaks, along with longer base paths and greater pitching distance. Junior League also includes the use of bats with 2 5⁄8-inch (6.7 cm) barrels rather than the transitional 2 1⁄4-inch (5.7 cm) barrels of Little League. Junior League also allows the use of metal spikes in cleats in addition to the molded or plastic spikes used in Little League. The Big League level was discontinued in the baseball and softball divisions — after the 2016 Big League World Series.

Age divisions

Intermediate League

See: Little League Baseball § Little League Intermediate (50/70) Division.

Junior League

See: Little League Baseball § Junior League

Junior League Baseball is for children aged 12 to 14 years old.[1]

Senior League

See: Little League Baseball § Senior League

Senior League Baseball is for children aged 13 to 16 years old.[2]

Big League

See: Little League Baseball § Big League

Big League Baseball was for children ages 16 to 18 years old.[3] It was discontinued after the 2016 Big League World Series.

Tournament Venues

Intermediate League World Series

The tournament is held in Livermore, California.

Junior League World Series

The tournament is held in Taylor, Michigan's Heritage Park.

Senior League World Series

The tournament has been held in Bangor, Maine since 2002.

Big League World Series

The Big League World Series was held from 1968 to 2016. The tournament's final host was Easley, South Carolina, from 2000 to the last-ever tournament in 2016. The tournament had previously been in Charlotte, North Carolina from 1968 to 1970 and in Fort Lauderdale, Florida from 1970 to 1998. It was also held in Arizona.

Regions

See also: Category:Little League baseball regions (for each age division).

Little League World Series regions

For the Little League baseball division, there are sixteen regions, whose champions are divided into two brackets (U.S. and International). The eight U.S. regions are: New England, Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Southeast, Southwest, Northwest (including Alaska), and West (including Hawaii). Since 2013, the eight international regions are: Asia-Pacific and Middle East (all countries in both regions, except for Australia, Israel, Japan, and Turkey), Australia, Canada, Caribbean (including Puerto Rico), Europe and Africa (also includes Israel and Turkey), Japan, Latin America (Central America and South America), and Mexico.[4]

U.S. regions in the Intermediate, Junior, Senior, and Big League divisions

Note: The Big League division was discontinued after 2016.

For the Intermediate, Junior, and Senior League baseball divisions, there are only five U.S. regions:

International regions

The international regions differ in the Intermediate, Junior, Senior, and Big League divisions.

Intermediate League regions

See: Category:Intermediate League World Series Regions

Unlike the Little League World Series, the Intermediate League World Series has (1) only ten regions and (2) a host team. There are two pools: Pool A (U.S. regional champions and the host team) and Pool B (international regional champions).

The Intermediate League has five international regions:

Junior League regions

See: Category:Junior League World Series Regions

Unlike the Little League World Series — which has sixteen regions (eight in the U.S. bracket and eight in the International bracket) — the Junior League World Series has only eleven regions, whose champions are divided into the United States Pool and the International Pool.[5]

The Junior League has six international regions:

Senior League regions

See: Category:Senior League World Series Regions

Unlike the Little League World Series — which has sixteen regions, divided into U.S. and International brackets — the Senior League World Series (1) has only nine regions, (2) has a host team (from a South Carolina district, starting in 2017; from Maine District 3 through 2016), and (3) the regional champions (plus the host team) are divided into two mixed pools (Group A and Group B) that combine U.S. and international regions.[6] Because of the mixed pools, the Senior League division does not have an international champion and a United States champion — unlike the other three baseball divisions of Little League Baseball.

The Senior League has only four international regions:

Big League regions

The Big League World Series was held from 1968 to 2016. During its final years, it differed from the Little League World Series in that it (1) had only ten regions, divided into Pool A (U.S.) and Pool B (International), and (2) had a host team (South Carolina District 1), which played in the U.S. pool.[7]

The Big League had five international regions:

Playing Field

The distance between the bases was 90 feet, the same as for regulation Major League Baseball fields. The distance between the pitcher's mound and home plate was 60.6 feet, also identical to that of MLB. The minimum outfield distance in the upper divisions was 300 feet, while the maximum for Big League was 425 feet.

Game Length

A game consisted of seven innings (same as in high-school baseball) and was official if five innings had been completed.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Junior League Baseball. Little League International. Retrieved 2012-06-04.
  2. ↑ Senior League Baseball. Little League International. Retrieved 2012-05-31.
  3. ↑ Big League Baseball. Little League International. Retrieved 2012-05-31.
  4. ↑ "Regions Realigned for 2013: Australia to Play in Little League Baseball World Series" (Press release). Little League Baseball. August 29, 2012. Archived from the original on September 23, 2012. Retrieved September 17, 2012. line feed character in |title= at position 39 (help)
  5. ↑ 2009 Junior League Baseball World Series pools and results. Little League Baseball Incorporated. Retrieved 2010-01-15.
  6. ↑ 2009 Senior League Baseball World Series pools and results. Little League Baseball Incorporated. Retrieved 2010-01-15.
  7. ↑ 2009 Big League Baseball World Series pools and results. Little League Baseball Incorporated. Retrieved 2010-01-15.
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