Cranston has always been at the forefront of Little League baseball in Rhode Island. Now the city is helping make Rhode Island one of the preeminent Little League destinations in the Northeast.

Little League recently announced that Cranston Western won the bid to host the inaugural 9/10 East Region Baseball Invitational Tournament this summer. While the 12-year-old state champs had the opportunity to advance to the Eastern Regional Tournament in Bristol, Conn., the highest honor a 10-year-old team could previously achieve was being crowned state champion.

This year, for the first time, Little League will provide the 10-year-old state championship teams from the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions with the opportunity to compete at the next level. From July 31 through Aug. 8, Cranston will help make those dreams a reality.

“We’ve been very fortunate at Cranston Western,” Vice President Gary Bucci said. “Our success on field and off field has allowed us to get a little leg up on the competition and it’s nice to see that people at the district, state and regional level have the confidence in us to let us host this tournament.”

The process began roughly four months ago, when Little League passed word down through its district administrators that it was creating the 10-year-old invitational tournament. Studies indicated that that particular age group was best suited for expansion, and the league was looking for a suitable host site for the inaugural tournament this summer. Cranston Western was one of seven leagues to submit bids and after a lengthy discovery process, which included a visit to the Briggs’ complex on Hope Road, Little League Eastern Headquarters selected the site for the 2010 tournament.

“We had seven proposals and we narrowed it down to our top two selections for each,” said Corey Wright, assistant director for Little League’s Eastern Region. “We reviewed the proposals, came to visit each site and I was really impressed with Cranston’s planning and structure for outlining the tournament.”

Western’s recent success at the 12-year-old level certainly helped provide important insight for the league’s bid. In the last 14 years, Western has represented Rhode Island six times at the Eastern Regional. Western’s board of directors used its knowledge of the 12-year-old regional tournament to craft the winning proposal for this year’s 9/10 invitational.

“Cranston has been to our location and that experience gave them a lot of insight into what we were looking for,” Wright said. “They have good people there and their proposal was head and shoulders above the rest. From the minute the kids arrive to the time they get on the buses to leave, their activities are structured. What they were willing to do for kids was outstanding. They have the kids’ best interests in mind and that’s what we’re looking for.”

Western also drew on its experience from hosting successful Rhode Island state tournaments in both 2005 and 2009.

“We’ve run the state tournament a few times and we know what to expect,” Bucci said. “And that experience is tremendous. It helps you know how to prepare for rain or how many volunteers you need. It helps with things like setting up umpires, managing concessions or deciding how many balls you might need for a game. All of those things went into our proposal.”

The tournament is certain to be unique. As of now, the Southeast is the only region to crown a 10-year-old champion. This August, Cranston will join those ranks as the city welcomes teams from Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Delaware, Maryland, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the invitational event.

Every team will be guaranteed to play at least three games at the tournament and all 11 state championship clubs will be honored at a Pawtucket Red Sox game on Aug. 2.

Hosting an event of this magnitude could also mean big business for the city and state, with players, families and fans all needing food and lodging. Western is in talks with vendors to help on-site and the league is counting on a small army of volunteers to help make it all possible.

“We’re going to need a tremendous volunteer base,” Bucci said. “And we’d love anyone in the city or surrounding areas to get in touch with us if they’re interested. We want to help make this run as smoothly as possible. This is our tournament this year and, if things go well, we want to keep it our tournament for a very long time.”