Senior League Softball World Series Set to Begin in Delaware
The 2026 Senior League Softball World Series (SLSWS) returns to Sussex County, Del., celebrating 50 years of softball competition at the Senior League level.
The event begins on August 3 and will be played at the Lower Sussex Little League Complex, located in the small, rural community of Roxana, marking the 21st year the event has been held there.
Teams representing five regions of the United States, along with the local host team from Delaware District 3, will compete alongside four international teams representing Asia-Pacific, Canada, Europe/Africa and Latin America.
The age range for the participants at the Senior League level is 13 to 16 years old.
The 2025 champion hailed from Grand Blanc, Michigan, representing the Central Region. In last year's elimination bracket, they pounded their way to three victories by 10-run margins over Latin America, Asia-Pacific and the host team, Delaware District 3, in the final game.
The host, Delaware District 3, is a combined team from Sussex County, representing Little Leagues located on the county's eastern side. This year, they qualified by sweeping the first two games of a three-game series against another combined squad from western Sussex County on July 7.
The remaining American teams have been involved in regional tournaments during the month of July. Here are the teams that have qualified:
Central Region
Defending SLSWS champion, Michigan District 4 of Grand Blanc, opened Central Region play with three commanding victories over Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky by a combined score of 33-4.
In the championship game, Michigan once again defeated Illinois 8-0, securing their opportunity to defend the title.
East Region
Worcester, Mass., was the site of the East Region tournament, hosted by Massachusetts District 4 Little League. Participants included the host team, as well as teams from Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
Old Lyme Little League out of Connecticut and Conneaut Lake Area Little League of Pennsylvania were the two dominant teams in the region by going undefeated with 5-0 records. They both advanced to the championship game, where Pennsylvania came out on top 7-5.
Southeast Region
The 2025 Junior League Southeast Region champion from Irmo Little League in South Carolina entered a new age bracket in 2026, but the results remained the same.
South Carolina scored 31 runs in its first three games of regional play, putting the team in the catbird seat and earning a spot in the championship game.
In the semi-final round, Georgia edged West Virginia 2-1 to advance. The championship game was decided by one unearned run scored by South Carolina, which led to the eventual 1-0 victory and a trip to Delaware for the SLSWS.
Southwest Region
Site host Broussard, La., saw plenty of offensive fireworks during the Southwest Region tournament held July 20-22.
Four of the five games leading up to the championship game were double-digit blowouts.
The winner was Texas West, representing Northwest Little League out of San Antonio. They won a wild championship game by walking off Texas East (Sinton Little League, Sinton, Texas) by a score of 9-8.
Texas West overcame six errors by utilizing a 19-hit offensive onslaught, scoring four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to win the game and punch their ticket to Roxana.
West Region
In the West Region tournament held in Missoula, Mont., nine teams played an eight-game round-robin to determine the top six seeds for elimination play.
Three teams finished with 7-1 records, including Hawaii and two teams from Montana.
The Hawaii team consisted of players from Honolulu Little League, while the Montana teams were the host team from Garden City Softball Little League in Missoula and Copper City Softball Little League out of Butte/Silver Bow.
Hawaii beat the host squad 8-5 to win the championship.
During the regional, Hawaii scored 20-plus runs in three separate games. The West Region representative could have the right combination of pitching and offense to make a run at a SLSWS title.
Four international teams won their respective regional tournaments, qualifying to participate in the SLSWS.
Here is a look at who will be traveling to Delaware in 2026:
Asia-Pacific
Bulacan Little League, located in Malolos, Philippines, has been a frequent Senior League World Series participant. They traveled to Indonesia for their regional qualifying tournament and won in impressive fashion.
Bulacan went 5-0 during the tournament and won each game via shutout. They prevailed in the championship game over Guam 21-0.
The team outscored their opponents 111-0. Once again, Asia-Pacific looks to be the primary international challenger for an SLWS title in 2026.
Canada
Little League Canada held two combined regional tournaments in Repentigny, Quebec (Eastern Division) and Calgary, Alberta (Western Division).
The Eastern Bracket champion was Royal On Field Little League out of Quebec, and the Western Bracket championship was won by YYC Softball Little League of Alberta.
The two bracket winners faced off in a best-of-three series in Calgary.
Royal On Field Little League won the first two games handily by scores of 12-0 and 13-3 to advance to the SLSWS.
Europe/Africa
The Europe/Africa regional tournament was held in Caronno Pertusella, Italy, from July 9-12.
Czech Republic District 01 Little League out of Prague finished the tournament with a record of 6-1. They defeated the host team, Lombardia Little League of Italy, 6-1.
Lombardia defeated the eventual champ 3-1 the previous day and finished the regional with a 4-2 record.
Latin America
Willemstad, Curacao, was the site of the Latin America Regional Tournament.
Cantareira Little League out of Sǎo Paulo, Brazil, made history and will be the country's first-ever representative at the SLSWS.
The team will also be the first representative from the continent of South America.
Cantareira broke through to be the first South American representative at the Major League softball level (ages 9-12) in 2025. On June 21, the Senior League team prevailed against Mexico in the Latin American regional championship 6-0.
Brazil also shut out Puerto Rico by an identical score in the semi-final round.
At the World Series, the ten teams will be divided into two five-team pools. Pool A includes Asia-Pacific, East, Latin America, Southwest and Delaware District 3. Pool B includes Canada, Central, Europe-Africa, Southeast and West.
Round robin play within pools begins at 6 p.m. EST on August 3 and continues through August 6.
Based on the order of finish in pool play, crossover play in the elimination bracket follows. Single elimination begins on August 7, with a champion due to be determined on August 9.
Softball On SI will cover the SLSWS as it happens in August.
Each of the games will be televised on ESPN+.
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Thomas Carey was born and raised in Delaware and is a graduate of both the University of Delaware and Wilmington University. He has spent his career as a legal writer. He played competitive modified softball for ten years and has been an assistant coach for girls fastpitch since 2017. For the past several years, he served as a recruiting coordinator at the 18-and-under travel ball level.
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