To repeat as the Big League World Series champion, Thousand Oaks Little League will have a challenging time with four pool-play games in six days.

Thousand Oaks, the West Region champion, will open against East champion Maryland on Saturday at 10 a.m. Maryland defeated Delaware 19-8 in East Dover, Del. Thousand Oaks rallied for a 2-1 championship game win over Northern California champion Cameron Park.

In the past World Series tournaments, the international and national teams were mixed in Pools A and B. This year, Pool A features host South Carolina (District 1), Southwest champion Louisiana (District 5), Central champion Michigan (District 9) and South champion South Carolina (District 7).

In other region title games, Michigan defeated Ohio 7-1; Louisiana defeated Texas West (Capitol Park of San Antonio) 10-0; and South Carolina edged Florida 3-2 at Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The international teams include Monterrey, Mexico (Latin America), Saipan (Asia Pacific), Fraser Valley (Canada), Georgia YMCA (Europe) and San Juan, Puerto Rico (Latin America II).

John Short III, president of Thousand Oaks Little League, said win or lose in the Big League World Series, the city of Thousand Oaks and the league will have a celebration to honor the all-stars on Aug. 8 at 6 p.m. at Gardens of the World in Thousand Oaks.

Last summer's World Series championship team had a celebration there.

Ron Peters is one of the behind the scenes coaches for Thousand Oaks. Business trips to Massachusetts and Scotland have prevented him from being in the dugout and on the field, but he helped pick this year's team and he was on hand when Thousand Oaks won the Southern California Tournament championship in Bellflower.

Thousand Oaks is making its fourth appearance in five World Series tournaments.

Manager Ed Kitchen will have to make the right moves during the tournament.

"It's strictly a United States bracket and every team is legitimate," said Peters. "We have to take each team seriously."

The other pool-play games for Thousand Oaks will be Michigan on Monday at 10 a.m. (PDT), Louisiana on Tuesday at 10 a.m. (PDT) and South Carolina on Aug. 2 at 1:30 p.m. (PDT). A semifinal game will be played Aug. 3 at 1:30 p.m. (PDT). The Aug. 4 championship game will be televised live at 10 a.m. (PDT) on ESPN.

Brett Fick and Stephen Noraro will be playing in South Carolina for the third time. Jason Barmasse, Kyle Jones, Peddicord, Rau and Yarin are returning players. Matt Bywater, Andres Ceja, Collin Lavoie, Anthony Montenegro, Ty Muller, Michael Schwartz and Zack Thornton are first-year Big League players.

Besides Kitchen and Peters, the other coaches are Matt Ricatto and Mike Sheehan.

Information: www.littleleague.org.