Little League is synonymous with baseball. But the international organization, founded in 1939, also has a softball division. And has had one for some time. Founded in 1974, the softball program features more than 25,000 teams and 300,000 participants worldwide. It continues to grow. There are five divisions of play for girls ages 4-16, including three Softball World Series tournaments — Little League, Junior League and Senior League — that boast international competition. Friendship is a key ingredient for fun and success. Play starts at the grassroots level. Locally, California District 66 Little League and California District 42 Little League have taken the forefront in developing competitive playing circuits. District 66’s softball programs began three years ago and have grown every year despite the contraction from 10 to eight baseball leagues for the 2026 season. “Our numbers overall have remained the same … I believe that is because of the addition of softball,” District 66 administrator Rolland Slade said. “Lemon Grove and Las Palmas have developed solid programs.” Softball teams go directly from district competition to state-level tournaments. Lemon Grove Little League sent all-star teams this summer to the 10U, 11U, 12U and Junior League Southern California state championships while Las Palmas participated in the Senior League softball state tournament. California District 42 Softball started in 2024 at South Bay Little League through the efforts of the husband and wife team Mario Montes (president) and Sidney Montes (board member). The league has registered about 1,500 girls playing in the district’s summer, fall and spring programs. District 42 fielded all-star teams at the 10U, 11U, 12U and Junior division levels at this year’s state tournament. During the regular season, District 42 teams participated against District 66 teams from Las Palmas and Lemon Grove. “Our other Little Leagues in District 42 have taken notice from South Bay Little League that softball in the South County is thriving,” District 42 administrator Ernie Lucero said. “Lemon Grove, Encanto, Skyline as well as Las Palmas and National City American just north of our District 42 are showing a surge in softball registrations and it appears the girls are enthusiastic about playing softball.” So much so that both the 11U and 12U-D bracket Southern California state tournaments were held in the backyard of both District 66 and District 42 at Max Field near Castle Park high School. It was a reward that didn’t go unnoticed. South Bay Little League won the 11U championship and finished runner-up in the Junior League division. South Bay Little League won the 11U tournament with a spotless 4-0 record that included wins over West Lancaster (District 51), 19-6, Reid Park (District 24), 26-3, Sunset Community (District 49), 22-5, and West Lancaster, 14-4 in the championship game. Lemon Grove finished 1-2 with a 17-2 opening round win over Fontana Elks (District 71) but endured successive losses to Sunset Community (District 49) and West Lancaster by respective scores of 14-1 and 11-0. South Bay (D42) and Lemon Grove D66) both finished 0-2 at the 10U state tournament June 29-July 12, Carl Nielsen Park, Los Angeles. Lemon Grove lost 15-0 to Hesperia American (District 49) and 23-3 to Calexico (District 22) while South Bay came up short 6-1 to La Sierra (District 24) and 14-4 to Quartz Hill (District 41). The top two teams from the four pools advanced to bracket play. Quartz Hill won the state title with a 4-0 win over Westchester Del Rey (District 37). The 12U state tournament featured 16 teams — four teams in each of four pools. The top two teams in each of the four pools advanced to bracket play at Al Houghton Stadium July 11-12 in San Bernardino, site of Little League baseball’s West Region tournament. Lemon Grove competed in Pool A with a 9-7 win over Fontana Elks (District 71), a 7-2 loss to Ridgeline (District 43) and a 12-2 win over Grand Terrace (District 21). South Bay competed in Pool D with a 15-0 win over Calexico (District 22), a 5-0 loss to East Alhambra (District 18) and a 4-0 win over Pomona American (District 20). South Bay advanced to bracket play as the No. 2 seed from the Pool D. San Marino National (District 51) capped a 3-0 run in bracket play with a 7-5 championship game victory over East Alhambra (District 18). Both the Junior and Senior divisions featured single-elimintion bracket play. South Bay defeated Banning Pass (District 58) by a score of 13-8 to open Junior League state tourney before dropping a 16-3 matchup to Westchester Dey Rey (District 37) in its second game. The D42 champions staved off elimination with an 8-6 win over Eastern Sierra (District 51) in a losers bracket game and extended its season to the championship round with additional elimination game victories over Hesperia National (District 49) and Pachappa (District 24) by scores of 13-2 and 10-4. The championship game turned into a championship game series after South Bay handed previously unbeaten Westchester Del Rey a 9-3 defeat July 11 at Kessler Park in Bloomington. The teams rematched the following evening with Westchester Del Rey pulling out a 7-5 win to claim the state title. South Bay finished 4-2 in the 10-team tournament. Lemon Grove finished 0-2 with a 25-2 loss to West End (District 43) and high-scoring 22-19 setback to Southridge (District 71). Las Palmas represented District 66 in the Senior League state tournament, finishing 2-2. Las Palmas dropped its tourney opener 22-3 to Tri-Valley (District 58) but rebounded with elimination game wins over Ridgeline (District 43) and West Lancaster (District 51) by tenuous scores of 8-7 and 7-6. The National City all-star team ended its season with a 19-7 loss to Tri-Valley in the next round. Tri-Valley went on to pair up against Fontana Elks (District 71) in the double-elimination championship game July 16 at Brubaker Park in Hemet, winning 11-7. San Marino National (12U), Westchester Del Rey (Junior) and Tri-Valley (Senior) all advanced to Western Regional competition in a build up to World Series competition. The Big Show The first Little League Softball World Series took place in 1974 in Freeport, N.Y. Wellsworth Little League from Tampa, Fla., was the first champion after defeating Kirkland Little League from Washington by a score of 4-1. California teams have won it five times, most recently in 1990 by Glendale’s Foothill Little League. Teams from Salinas won back-to-back titles in 1975- 76. Glendale also won it in 1980 and 1982. Texas leads the way with 14 championships, including 13 by Midway Little League from the Waco/Hewitt area. The 2026 Little League Softball World Series is scheduled Aug. 2-9 in Greenville, N.C. The bracket includes 12 teams (10 domestic and four international regional champions). United States regional champions include Central, Mid-Atlantic, New England, North Carolina, Northwest, Southeast, Southwest and West. International regions include Asia-Pacific, Canada, Europe- Africa and Latin America. Mid-Atlantic region champion West Suburban Little League from Johnstown, Pa., is the defending world champion. The 2026 Junior League World Series is scheduled Aug. 2-8 in Kirkland Wash. The bracket includes six U.S. regional champions (Central, East, Southeast, Southwest, Washington District 9 and West) and four international regional winners (Asia- Pacific, Canada, Europe-Africa and Latin America). The first world series tournament took place in 1999. Columbus, Tex. (Southwest region) is the defending champion after defeating Evergreen Park, Ill., 2-0. Maunabo (Puerto Rico) has won the tournament four times (2007, 2009, 2010, 2016) while Bago (Philippines) and Prague (Czech Republic) have scored additional international prowess in 2023 and 2024, respectively. The Senior League World Series is scheduled Aug. 3-9 in Lower Sussex, Del. Ten teams (six domestic, four international) will compete in two divisions. Pool A teams include Asia-Pacific, Delaware District 3, East, Latin America and Southwest. Pool B teams include Canada, Central, Europe-Africa, Southeast and West.
