White Rock continuing British Columbia’s reign of dominance at Canadian Little League Championship

11 and 12-year-old little leaguers from Victoria B.C. to Halifax, N.S. share summer dreams of being on the team that gets the privilege to wear the red and white uniforms with 'CANADA' proudly emblazoned across the chest and play on the perfectly manicured ballfields of Williamsport, Pa. in front sold-out crowds and an international television audience.

For most, that dream never comes close to becoming reality, finding a spot on the shelf next to being a music star or a motion picture sensation, but young ballplayers from British Columbia have reason to awaken from their perfect game and walkoff home run-themed slumber with stronger sense of optimism than their compatriots.

The White Rock 11 and 12-year-old all-stars are the latest group from B.C. to impress on the national stage. White Rock finished the round robin at the Canadian Little League Championship in Glace Bay, N.S. a perfect 6-0 and outscored opponents 41-15, exhibiting a level of professionalism that's come to be expected from B.C. baseball.

Since Lynn Valley represented Canada at the Little League World Series in 1993, a British Columbia Little League has been to the tournament 13 times and every year since 2005. Over the same period, Ontario and Nova Scotia are the only other provinces to send teams to Williamsport more than once and both did it just twice. If White Rock wins their next two games and continues the tradition of a B.C. team playing in Pennsylvania, they would be more successful than those two provinces. It would be their third appearance at the LLWS in the last 20 years, having previously qualified in 2007 and 2008.

Multi-time MLB All-Star Jason Bay famously participated in the 1990 LLWS for his hometown of Trail, B.C., Blue Jays third baseman Brett Lawrie's baseball career began playing for perennial power Langley Little League, and 2011 Jays draft pick and current Vancouver Canadians infielder Justin Atkinson was a member of the Whalley Little League teams in 2005 and 2006 that were crowned Canadian champions and played at Williamsport.

So what is it that makes B.C. best at baseball?

Is it the relatively more mild weather that makes it possible to begin practicing the sport ahead of the other provinces? Is it a wealth of quality programs, primarily across the Lower Mainland and home to the last eight national champs, that creates a higher level of competition and thus better players? Is there a particular fundamental of the game that is simply better appreciated by British Columbian coaches? Or are there simply just more youths to choose from?

Whatever the cause for the superiority of B.C's teams, and best guess is that it's the result of all four questions above,White Rock coach Jeff Crossley told the Vancouver Sun that there's a certain weight and responsibility that comes along with winning the provincial championship and being designated as British Columbia's best.

White Rock plays Quebec's representative from the Notre-Dame-de-Grace neighborhood in Montreal in Saturday's semifinal. The winner moves onto the final to play the winner of the other semifinal between Glace Bay, N.S. and East Nepean, On.

They're two sleeps and two wins away from clinching that elusive trip to Williamsport and based on B.C's track record there's a good chance they'll deliver, as the rest of Canada watches and dreams of having the baseball success of the country's Western-most province.

www.vancouversun.com/sports/baseball/White+Rock+dominating+Little+League+championships/8755773/story.html