Little League Softball Tournament Set for Semifinals

The mound is flat and there's a circle in the middle of the diamond, but other than that, the enthusiasm for Little League at Al Houghton Stadium is about the same.

Except for the amount of yelling from the dugouts. Girls players tend to scream and chant a little more than their male counterparts.

The Little League Western Regional Softball Tournament is wrapping up Thursday and Friday at the Western Region Headquarters in San Bernardino.

There will be two semifinals Thursday -- one at 4 p.m. and the other at 7 p.m. -- with the winners playing in Friday's championship game. The tournament winner will play in the Litttle League Softball World Series in Portland, Ore., Aug 11-17.

Admission is free to all games at the stadium. Attendance has been low for the tournament, which is being held in San Bernardino for the first time.

Wednesday afternoon, the top two teams in Group A -- Northern California (Gilroy Little League) and Washington (Kirkland National/American Little League) -- met to earn the group's top seed.

Gilroy used a four-run bottom of the fifth inning to win the game 7-3. They will face the second place team from Group B, Gastineau Channel Little League from Juneau, Alaska, at 4 p.m. Thursday.

Kirkland will face the Group A winner, Southern California's Westchester-Del Rey Little League, at 7 p.m.

Friday's championship game will be played at 6 p.m.