Little League Ousts Taiwan, Dominican Republic

The first two outs already have been recorded at the 1993 Little League World Series.

On Wednesday, Little League disqualified the Dominican Republic and 15-time world champion Taiwan for rules violations.

The Dominican Republic was removed under the same rules that cost the Philippines its title last year.

“Little League Baseball regrets the necessity of this action but has deemed it imperative in order to maintain the integrity of the Little League Baseball program,” spokesman Dennis Sullivan read from a statement.

Panama will replace the Dominican Republic in the World Series, which begins Aug. 23 in Williamsport, Pa. Officials have not decided which country will replace Taiwan.

The action comes one year after Little League stripped a team of a title won on the field for the first time. Long Beach had lost to the Philippines, 15-1, but was declared champion after Manila newspapers reported the Zamboanga City team used players older than the limit from all over the Philippines.

Little League rules require that players be 11 or 12 on July 31 and that they come from specific geographic districts. Little Leagues also must have no more than 1,000 youths as a pool for every four teams.

Taiwan’s Tai Ping team did not have enough teams to cover the 2,100 students in its district, Sullivan said.