Day 1 (Thursday, August 5):
McAllister Park American (Texas West) 14, Ocean Springs (Mississippi) 3 (full six innings)
Lamar National (Texas East) 5, Bryant Athletic (Arkansas) 1
Shorthorn (New Mexico) 2, John Hess (Oklahoma) 1
South Lake Charles (Louisiana) 10, Academy (Colorado) 2

Day 2 (Friday, August 6):
Lamar National (Texas East) 9, South Lake Charles (Louisiana) 8
Ocean Springs (Mississippi) 2, John Hess (Oklahoma) 1
Bryant Athletic (Arkansas) 9, Academy (Colorado) 3
Shorthorn (New Mexico) 3, McAllister Park American (Texas West) 1

Day 3 (Saturday, August 7):
Ocean Springs (Mississippi) 6, Shorthorn (New Mexico) 4
Lamar National (Texas East) 6, Academy (Colorado) 5
McAllister Park American (Texas West) 11, John Hess (Oklahoma) 0 (full six innings)
Bryant Athletic (Arkansas) 1, South Lake Charles (Louisiana) 0

Pool 'A' Standings	W	L	Runs Allowed
McAllister Park American (Texas West)	2	1	6
Ocean Springs (Mississippi)	2	1	19
Shorthorn (New Mexico)	2	1	8
John Hess (Oklahoma)	0	3	15
Pool 'B' Standings	W	L	Runs Allowed
Lamar National (Texas East)	3	0	14
Bryant Athletic (Arkansas)	2	1	8
South Lake Charles (Louisiana)	1	2	12
Academy (Colorado)	0	3	25

The top two teams in each pool advance to the semifinal round.

Ties are broken based on records in head-to-head competition among tied teams. If a clear winner cannot be determined from head-to-head results, the tie is broken by calculating the ratio of runs allowed to defensive innings played for all teams involved in the tie. The team with the lowest runs-per-defensive-inning ratio advances.

In the event of a tie involving three or more teams, once the initial tie is broken, the remaining tied teams are again compared on head-to-head record to determine if a clear winner can be identified. If no clear winner can be identified from head-to-head results among the remaining tied teams, the runs-per-defensive-inning ratio is again used. This process is repeated until all ties have been broken.

Southwestern Region Tournament Semifinals (Sunday, August 8)

Bryant Athletic (Arkansas) 12, McAllister Park American (Texas West) 5
Lamar National (Texas East) 8, Ocean Springs (Mississippi) 0

Southwestern Region Tournament Championship Game (Tuesday, August 10)

Lamar National (Texas East) 3, Bryant Athletic (Arkansas) 2 (7 innings; TITLE)

Before the opening pitch of the 2004 Southwest Region tournament championship game at Marvin Norcross Field in Waco, Texas, Little League Baseball officials took a moment to honor the previous year's region champion. Eleven of the twelve players from the 2003 Lamar National Little League (Richmond, East Texas) all-star team stood on the field where they had defeated Arkansas' Bryant Athletic Little League 5-3 to earn a berth in the Little League World Series.

The twelfth player from that team?

He was in the dugout, ready to do it all over again.

Randal Grichuk hit a pair of towering home runs, drove in all of his team's runs, and pitched three shutout innings in relief as Lamar National earned a return trip to the Little League World Series with a 3-2, seven inning victory over Bryant Athletic.

The matchup marked only the second time since 1957 that two U.S. leagues met in consecutive regional championship games in the major baseball division. Long Beach (Southern California) Little League defeated San Ramon Valley Little League (Danville, Northern California) in the 1992 and 1993 Western Region championship games.

"I feel total elation," said Lamar National manager Jim Michalek after the game. "I'm thrilled beyond words to get another crack at (the Little League World Series). How blessed can a man be?"

As in the previous year's title game, Lamar National needed to rally after Bryant claimed an early lead. Arkansas pitcher Kaleb Jobe snapped a scoreless tie with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the fourth inning, and Jonathon Lowery later added a two-out RBI single. But Lamar second baseman Joey Scheurich opened the top of the fifth with a four-pitch walk, and Grichuk followed with a blast well over the center field fence.

Neither team scored again until the seventh, when Grichuk drove a full-count fastball to the same area. The right-hander, who came on in relief of starter Daniel Homann in the fifth inning, retired the side in order in the bottom of the seventh to send Lamar National back to South Williamsport.

"That was an absolute monster of a game," said Michalek of Grichuk, the only returnee from Lamar National's 2003 Southwestern Region championship team. "He's the guy we want up in a big situation."

Lamar National had several opportunities early in the game, stranding five baserunners in the first two innings and two more in the fourth. Jobe, who struck out six in five and two-thirds innings of work, repeatedly escaped trouble with a sharp-breaking curveball.

"He did a great job of mixing things up," said Michalek of Jobe's efforts against his hitters. "They worked the corners and it was very effective against us. We swung at the pitcher's pitch (and) when you're hitting the pitcher's pitch, the pitcher wins the battle."

Homann, who struck out five and allowed only two hits in four inning before moving behind the plate, kept Bryant's offense in check until Lamar National broke through.

"Without Homann, we don't have a chance in this ballgame," said Michalek. "He has been a warrior all summer long.

"We felt (Bryant) needed to see a different pitcher," added the East Texas manager, who called on Grichuk for only his second pitching appearance of the international tournament. The right-hander struck out three and did not allow a hit in three innings of work.

Lamar National, which lost only one of its thirteen games en route to becoming the first Texas league ever to reach two consecutive region tournaments in the major baseball division, swept all five of its region tournament opponents for the second consecutive year. Matt Daniels helped the East Texas champions start the tournament on the right foot, throwing a complete game three-hitter on a scorching 101-degree afternoon as Lamar National downed Bryant Athletic 5-1 in their opening pool game.

"That was the most effective ballgame I have ever seen Matt throw," said Michalek after the win. "Stat-wise, he has probably thrown better, but never in this kind of heat, with this much on the line, and against a first-rate ballclub.

"The first win is imperative in this kind of format and in this heat," he added. "With the solid clubs in our pool, you have to have at least two wins and you don't want to be staring down at the prospect of having to win two straight in pool play without any possible margin of error."

Lamar National's pool also included perennial Louisiana champion South Lake Charles Little League, which reached the Little League World Series in 2001 and took Lamar National to the limit in a 1-0 semifinal round loss in the 2003 Southwest Region tournament. Lamar found itself trailing 8-3 in the fourth inning after Louisiana's Ty Griffen slammed a solo home run, a grand slam, and a three-run homer, but the Texans rallied in the late innings for a 9-8 win that clinched a semifinal round berth.

"That was about as dominating a one-man performance as you're gonna see," said Michalek of Griffen's pyrotechnics. "He had a dream day at the plate.

"(But) we felt as long as we had innings left, we had a shot," he added.

Lamar National sliced the South Lake Charles lead to one run with Cody Abraham's two-out, three-run homer in the fifth, then won it when Ray Cervenka and Steven Crawford delivered bases-loaded RBI singles in the bottom of the sixth.

"They are a fundamentally sound team," said South Lake Charles manager Sam Powell of the eventual region champions. "They do everything well. But the biggest thing is they don't make mistakes."

Lamar closed out pool competition with a 6-5 win over Academy Little League (Colorado Springs, Colorado), then blanked Ocean Springs (Mississippi) Little League 8-0 in the semifinal round. Daniels threw a five-hitter against the Mississippi champions, striking out ten and walking only one.

"We played a pretty complete game," said Michalek, whose team jumped to an early lead on Grichuk's three-run homer three batters into the game. "Matt Daniels kept the ball down, kept them off balance. When they did hit the ball, it was on the ground for the most part."

The win pushed Lamar National into a rematch with Bryant Athletic, which reeled off three straight wins after the opening game loss to Lamar National. Benny Wells scattered three hits over five-plus innings as Bryant edged South Lake Charles 1-0 to claim the second semifinal round berth in Pool 'A', and the Arkansas champions then rapped out twelve hits and scored in every inning in a 12-5 win over McAllister Park National Little League (San Antonio, Texas West) in the semifinal round. Dylan Pritchett paced the Bryant offense with a home run, while Jobe doubled, tripled, and drove in three runs.

Two days later, Bryant grabbed the early lead, but Grichuk and Lamar National rallied for the tournament-clinching win.

"We have a very confident ballclub," said Michalek after the championship game. "We weren't bothered by the situation even though we left a few guys on base early in the game. It was an extremely frustrating game, but the kids responded.

"I haven't been with this group very long," added the East Texas manager. "(But) they've been with each other a long time. The trust they have in each other that they formed years ago is more important than the length of time I have spent with them."

Lamar National's championship game win gave Michalek two more weeks with his team. The newly-crowned Southwestern Region champions scored in double-digits in each of their pool games at the Little League World Series and then defeated Morganton (North Carolina) Little League 8-2 in the United States semifinals. Conejo Valley East Little League (Thousand Oaks, Southern California) defeated Lamar National 4-0 in the United States championship game.

Linescores:

Pool Play Game 1	1	2	3	4	5	6	7		R	H	E
McAllister Park American (Texas West)	3	0	1	1	0	9			14	10	1
Ocean Springs (Mississippi)	0	0	2	0	0	1			3	4	3
Pool Play Game 2
Bryant Athletic (Arkansas)	0	0	0	1	0	0			1	3	2
Lamar National (East Texas)	0	0	1	1	3	x			5	4	1
Pool Play Game 3
Shorthorn (New Mexico)	0	0	0	0	0	2			2	6	4
John Hess (Oklahoma)	0	0	0	1	0	0			1	0	1
Pool Play Game 4
South Lake Charles (Louisiana)	3	0	1	4	2	0			10	12	3
Academy (Colorado)	0	0	1	0	1	0			2	3	1
Pool Play Game 5
South Lake Charles (Louisiana)	1	4	0	3	0	0			8	7	3
Lamar National (East Texas)	1	0	2	1	3	2			9	11	2
Pool Play Game 6
Ocean Springs (Mississippi)	1	0	0	1	0	0			2	8	0
John Hess (Oklahoma)	0	0	0	1	0	0			1	3	0
Pool Play Game 7
Bryant Athletic (Arkansas)	0	0	0	4	1	4			9	7	1
Academy (Colorado)	0	0	0	0	0	3			3	3	3
Pool Play Game 8
Shorthorn (New Mexico)	0	0	0	2	1	0			3	5	0
McAllister Park American (Texas West)	0	0	0	1	0	0			1	1	0
Pool Play Game 9
Shorthorn (New Mexico)	1	0	0	0	0	3			4	6	3
Ocean Springs (Mississippi)	0	3	0	0	3	x			6	6	1
Pool Play Game 10
Academy (Colorado)	2	1	0	0	2	0			5	3	2
Lamar National (East Texas)	2	0	0	1	3	x			6	8	3
Pool Play Game 11
McAllister Park American (Texas West)	0	0	0	0	4	7			11	9	0
John Hess (Oklahoma)	0	0	0	0	0	0			0	2	1
Pool Play Game 12
South Lake Charles (Louisiana)	0	0	0	0	0	0			0	3	0
Bryant Athletic (Arkansas)	0	0	1	0	0	x			1	3	1
Semifinal Round
Bryant Athletic (Arkansas)	2	1	1	2	2	4			12	12	1
McAllister Park American (Texas West)	0	0	0	0	3	2			5	3	1
Semifinal Round
Lamar National (East Texas)	3	0	3	1	0	1			8	9	1
Ocean Springs (Mississippi)	0	0	0	0	0	0			0	5	4
Championship Game
Lamar National (East Texas)	0	0	0	0	2	0	1		3	8	3
Bryant Athletic (Arkansas)	0	0	0	2	0	0	0		2	2	3

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