A SPECIAL REPORT: PLAYOFF BALL : Circuitous Route

The road to Williamsport, Pa., site of the Little League World Series, is a long and arduous one. District all-star tournament play started throughout the region over the weekend, but even the winners of those competitions have a long way to go. . . . From district tournaments, Little League teams go to sectional, then divisional and regional competitions before reaching the championships in Williamsport.

National Attention

Little League is the best-known youth baseball program in the world, but organizations such as Pony, Babe Ruth, the Continental Amateur Baseball Assn., the American Amateur Baseball Congress--with leagues named after Roberto Clemente and Connie Mack--and the Amateur Athletic Union also conduct national tournaments. . . . All feature a series of qualifying competitions.

Never Too Soon

It is never too early to start playing in youth-sanctioned baseball tournaments, as these 7- and 8-year-old players, above, from the Mid Valley and North Valley Pony leagues show at a playoff game Saturday in Granada Hills.

No Softies Here

Boys don’t get all the fun. The Amateur Softball Assn.’s Junior Olympic program includes 73,000 fast-pitch girls teams. The Southern California Stealth, a girls’ organization based in the Valley that fields several softball teams ages 12 to 18, is one of the most successful in the state.

Cream of the Crop

Only two leagues from the area have sent teams to the Little League World Series. Granada Hills broke through in 1963 and won the series. Northridge followed with teams in the 1967, 1975 and 1994 series, but has never won. The 1994 Northridge team, dubbed the “Earthquake Kids,� lost the final game to the team from Maracaibo, Venezuela.