The Bowling Green East 11- and 12-year-old All-Stars head to Indianapolis this weekend for the Great Lakes Region Tournament – the final stop before the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.

Five teams stand in the way of BG East and a third trip to Williamsport since 2015, with the double-elimination tournament kicking off Sunday.

Bowling Green East will open play Monday at 9 a.m. CDT against the winner of West Side Little League from Hamilton, Ohio, and Silver Creek Little League from Sellersburg, Ind.

The field also includes River Forest (Ill.) Youth Little League, Bay City (Mich.) Northwest Little League and Glendale (Wis.) Little League.

“All of the hoopla and everything around it makes it exciting, with ESPN and the coverage,” BG manager Rick Kelley said. “It gets to a whole different level once you get to the regions. Everybody is very excited and welcomes the opportunity.”

Kelley said he thinks his team will be ready for the competition after being tested in both the District 1 Tournament and State Tournament. He said the recent rule change moving the birthday cutoff line back from May 1 to Sept. 1 has made for a more equal playing field that has led to more balance throughout the tournaments.

“Previously you had 13-year-olds that dominated the leagues,” Kelley said. “This year you don’t have that. There is more parity in the teams. I think you are going to see more competitive games and that’s what I like about our district and state. You get some good competition and I think that bodes well for later on in the tournament.”

While there was some familiarity with opponents in the previous two tournaments, the Great Lakes Tournament presents a unique challenge of preparing for teams you rarely – if ever – see.

“You can get some of it through newspaper articles and some of it through GameChanger, but really until you see them in Indianapolis you really won’t know what the competition looks like until that point,” Kelley said.

Bowling Green East is one of two teams, along with Bay City, that received a bye in the draw. Kelley said he sees playing one less game as both a positive and a negative.

“Certainly the biggest advantage is you hope that they have an 18-inning game and have to throw all kinds of pitching in the first game,” Kelley said. “It does allow an advantage from that point, but getting the jitters out of the way, seeing the cameras and all those things is also an advantage from their standpoint.”

Kelley has experience guiding teams to the Little League World Series, having served as the manager for the squads that advanced to Williamsport in 2015 and 2016. He said he sees similar traits in this bunch and is hopeful they can add another BG East team to the list of World Series participants.

“I think we’ve got more depth at pitching than we ever have,” Kelley said. “None of it is overpowering like we have seen in the past, but again that is part of the age difference. I love our pitching depth and we can really hit the ball from 1 to 14. They have a lot of confidence at the plate. Hopefully those two things will help us advance a long way.”{&end}