By Glenn Rolfe

ROXANA — Local Senior League Softball World Series history will be made Monday, Aug. 1 when East region champ Camden Wyoming and host District 3 take the main field at the Lower Sussex Little League Complex.

It will be home sweet home for Delaware District 3 champion Lower Sussex, as it faces Camden-Wyoming in a 6 p.m. tournament opener— an all-Delaware kickoff to the tournament that runs Aug. 1-7.

“This is the first time in 17 years that the actual host, the Lower Sussex team, qualified to play in the tournament,” said Rich Sauerhaft, marketing/fundraising director for the event.

Lower Sussex punched its ticket to the World Series on July 19, with a pair of victories over Laurel/Nanticoke/Woodbridge. Under the format for the Senior League Softball World Series, host District 3 earns an automatic berth.

Camden Wyoming clinched the East region Tuesday, topping New Jersey 14-12 before downing Pennsylvania 10-4 for the title.

The 2022 tournament features 10 teams – six U.S. and four international qualifiers.

Not held in 2020 and 2021 due to the global COVID 19 pandemic, the event is back, albeit with some financial and logistical curves facing the all-volunteer staff, led once again by tournament director Martin Donovan.

“This is a major undertaking. I think the total budget probably approaches $500,000. We’re all volunteers. It’s basically a Little League event on steroids,” said Mr. Sauerhaft. “I think that one of the most amazing things about this year is how Martin put this entire thing together again, after a two-year hiatus.”

Of course, inflation has reared its ugly head.

“Gas. We bus all the umpires, coaches, players from hotels to the fields and back. On their days off we bus them to Tanger Outlets. We bus them to the beaches. We run a lot of buses. The gas budget alone has gone crazy,” Mr. Sauerhaft said. “And because of COVID, we are required to keep a whole bunch of extra empty hotel rooms, in case somebody tests positive and has to be quarantined. Then, the double whammy of that is that you send a kid back to the hotel by themselves if they are quarantined, you have to have an adult as well. So now it takes two rooms to quarantine.”

Mr. Donovan, who has been director for every World Series tournament held in Roxana since 2004, said Little League International covers most of housing, airplane tickets from regional site to Philadelphia, and travel to the site location.

“From that point on they are all ours. Every expense that goes on here is ours. Busing to the ballpark. Busing on their days off,” said Mr. Donovan. “We feed them three meals a day, 240-some people. Laundry is done every night for 200 players. Our catering expense has gone up. Our gas expense, I am anticipating is going to double.”

Then, there is supply and demand challenge.

“One of the issues we are dealing with as is everybody is the supply chain. We have a whole bunch of pants that haven’t showed up yet (as of July 25),” said Mr. Sauerhaft.

Each player not only gets to keep their uniform but also receives a gift bag. It includes cleats, an Easton bat and other equipment and stuff.

Little League does not charge spectator admission. Thus, the event banks on support. That list includes, among others, ESPN, Little League International, Sussex County, Delaware Tourism, Beebe Healthcare which provides medical/athletic services, and the Joshua M. Freeman Foundation, a longtime generous supporter.

“One of our problems as a business entity is we can’t even charge admission. If we could charge admission to the event we’d be in great shape. But it’s a Little League event,” said Mr. Sauerhaft. “The state claims that our Little League event has about a $2 million economic impact on the area. A lot of it is just the money we spend.”

The mission, Mr. Donovan says, is to make this a memorable event for every player. Sunday is arrival day, designed for teams to get together in a meet and greet.

“We try to make it an event, a lifetime event that they never forget. It’s a week to learn about other cultures,” said Mr. Donovan. “It’s more than just what you see on the field.”

The tournament is popular with fans, he said.

“One of the things we have found over the years is once you come, you’ll come back every year. It’s an event I say that once you get there, you are hooked,” said Mr. Donovan.

There are two five-team pools. Pool play concludes Aug. 4. The top four teams in each pool then enter the single-elimination championship bracket.

Opening ceremonies Aug. 1 begin at 4:30 p.m.

All games will be televised on ESPN+ except for the Aug. 7 championship, which is on ESPN2.

In the years the tourney has been staged at the Lower Sussex complex, District 3 has had two world champions crowned. Laurel reigned in 2011, and Georgetown claimed the title in 2017.

In 2019, District 3 (Laurel, Millsboro and Nanticoke) lost in the finale to Southwest by a 7-5 margin.

Some regional events are wrapping up this mid-week. In addition to the two Delaware squads, qualifiers for Roxana’s Senior League Softball World Series include Southeast region (Florida), Canada (Alberta), Latin America (Curacao), Asia Pacific (Philippines) and Europe Africa (Netherlands).