The city of Kirkland held a Little League Softball World Series send-off rally for the combined Kirkland American Little League and Kirkland National Little League majors squad on Sunday at the Marina Park Pavilion. The World Series will take place Aug. 8-15 in Portland, Oregon. The West locals will take on the Southeast (Gray, Tennessee) in the first game at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Alpenrose Stadium. They will continue four-game Pool A action against Europe-Africa (Prague, Czech Republic) at 1 p.m. Friday and then play the East (Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania) at 9 a.m. Saturday and then Canada (Victoria, British Columbia) at 7 p.m. Sunday. Elimination play begins on Monday. The last time a Kirkland softball team went to the softball World Series was 2001, and a Kirkland softball team has never won a World Series. Courtesy of Corky Trewin