HispanicBusiness

When the lead-off hitter blasts a home run in his first at-bat, odds are pretty good his team is playing to win. Such was the case in Monday night's final qualifying game for the Little League World Series when South Shore Little League of Staten Island, NY shutout Somerset Hills Little League of Bernardsville, NJ with a final score of 4-0.

The win gave the New York team the Mid-Atlantic championship and earned the right to join 15 other youth baseball teams from around the world as they gather to participate in the 63rd annual Little League World Series. Play will begin on the famed fields in Williamsport, PA on Friday, August 21.

The Little League teams that will play in the annual youth baseball extravaganza for the top 11- and 12- year old players around the world include:

Mid-Atlantic: South Shore LL/Staten Island, NY
West: Park View LL/Chula Vista, CA
Northwest: Mercer Island LL, WA
Great Lakes: Logan County/Russellville LL, KY
New England: Peabody Western LL, MA
Midwest: Urbandale LL, IA
Southeast: Warner Robins American LL/Warner Robins, GA
Southwest: McAlllister Park American LL, San Antonio, TX
Europe: KMC American LL/Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany
Mexico: Guadalupe Trevino Kelly LL/ Reynosa, Mexico
MEA: Arabian American LL/Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
Caribbean: Pabao LL/Willemstad, Curacao in the Netherlands, Antilles
Japan: Chiba City LL/Chiba City, Japan
Asia-Pacific: Kuei-Shan LL/ Taoyuan, Chinese Taipei
Latin America: Coquivacoa LL/ Maracaibo, Venezuela

Famous Americans who played Little League include Tony Hawk (skateboarder), Bruce Springsteen (singer), George Will (political commentator), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (NBA basketball star), Michael Smith (NASA shuttle pilot) and H. Lee Scott (president and CEO of Wal-Mart-Inc.)

Starting Friday, Aug, 21, All games will be televised live on ESPN2, with the exception of the International Championship, United States Championship and World Series Championship games, which will be broadcast live on ABC. Go to http://www.littleleague.org/series/2009divisions/llbb/series.htm for a complete schedule of games and times.