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Florida State Tournament Milestones

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The Florida state tournament series structure has changed several times since the first state tournament was held in the 1950s. Key events in the evolution of this structure include the following:

YEARMILESTONE
1958The Florida state tournament is an eight-team, single-elimination tournament. As would be the case throughout the 1960s, the Florida state champions advances to the Southern Region Division 3 Tournament to compete for a berth in the Southern Region tournament. The state's eight districts are numbered 1-8 and are organized sequentially from the panhandle (District 1) to the Miami area (District 8).
1962District 9 (Southwest Florida) is formed as a spin-off from District 5.
1966Three new districts are formed:
  • District 10 (Broward County) is spun off from District 7;
  • District 11 (Jacksonville area) is spun off from District 2;
  • District 12 (Northern Pinellas County and Southwestern Pasco County) is spun off from District 5.

    To accommodate these new districts, officials pair off the state's districts in six bi-district tournaments. The six bi-district winners then advance to the state tournament.

  • 1967Instead of competing in a state tournament, Florida's district champions funnel into two bi-state tournaments, and the two bi-state winners both advance to divisional tournament competition. Florida continues to crown two bi-state champions through the 1970 international tournament.
    1969District 13 (Tampa area) is spun off from District 6.
    1971When the Southern Region tournament expanded to include the champions of all Southern Region states, Florida's tournament format is changed to a 13-team, single-elimination tournament.
    1975District 14 is formed in the Northern and Eastern portions of the Orlando area as a spin-off from Districts 2 and 3. Florida officials change the state tournament format so that the state's 14 district champions compete in two seven-team sectional tournaments, and the two sectional champions advance to a winner-take-all state tournament game.
    1980District 15 (Gainesville/Crystal River/Dixie County area) is formed. Florida officials organize the state's 15 districts into four sections that each send a champion to the four-team, single-elimination state tournament.
    1981District 16 (Sarasota and Manatee Counties) is spun off from District 9.

    Also, state officials change the state tournament format to a double-elimination competition; however, losses in sectional tournament competition carry over to the state tournament.

    1985The state tournament remains a four-team, double-elimination event. Sectional tournament losses no longer carry over to the state tournament.
    1987District 17 (Indian River, Martin, and St. Lucie Counties) is spun off from District 7.
    1990District 18 (Collier, Glades, Hendry, and portions of Lee Counties) is spun off from District 9.
    1994District 19 (Volusia County area) is spun off from District 14. District 14 is moved from Section 1 to Section 3, and District 19 takes its place in Section 1.
    1998District 20 (North Central Florida) is spun off from District 11.
    1999District 21 (South Broward County) is spun off from District 10.
    2001Florida is assigned to the Southeastern Region as part of Little League Baseball's expansion of the Little League World Series from eight to sixteen participants.
    2002Florida officials form two new districts:
  • District 22 (Space Coast - Northern Brevard County) is spun off from District 2;
  • District 23 (Orlando Area - North) is spun off from District 14.

    Florida also revises the state's sectional structure, grouping districts into a total of eight sections instead of the four sections employed in previous years.

  • 2004Florida officials form two new districts:
  • District 24 (Orlando Area - East) is spun off from District 3;
  • District 25 (Tampa Area - North Suburbs) is spun off from Districts 13 and 4.
  • 2005District 26 (Manatee County) is spun off from District 16 (Sarasota County).
    2008District 27 (Naples Area) is spun off from District 18 (Glades and Hendry Counties; Northern porton of Collier County, and Southern portion of Lee County).
    2021Florida officials implement a state realignment plan that reduces the number of districts in the state from 27 to 23. Districts 21, 23, 25, and 27 are dissolved, and their remaining leagues were absorbed into adjacent districts. In addition, a handful of leagues are moved to from one continuing district to another based on new boundaries drawn as part of the plan. The state continues with its eight section format, but reassigns several remaining districts to new sections as part of the realignment.

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