Every summer, Williamsport, a small Pennsylvania town, for 10 days, becomes home to hundreds of 12-year olds, their families, their fans, and most of all, baseball. It is seemingly one of the last pure things left in sports: the Little League World Series.

The qualifying rounds have finished and the 16 teams are set for play to begin this Friday. Youngsters from places like Peabody, Mass., Kaiserslaurtern, Germany, Mercer Island, Wash., Chiba City, Japan, and San Antonio, Tex., will converge on Williamsport, hoping to capture youthful immortality. For most of the kids, it's the highlight of their baseball career, the absolute climax. But for a very select few, it is only the beginning.

Canada's Pierre Turgeon, an NHL star, MLB All-Star Jason Bay and Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel all get their starts in Williamsport.

Pierre Turgeon was the first player selected in the 1987 NHL Draft. But the four-time All-Star first received media attention by leading his Canadian Little League team to the World Series. Turgeon went 7-0 on the mound while leading his team to Williamsport, and once there, he went 5-for-9 with 5 RBI and a 1-1 pitching record.

Turgeon's baseball and hockey careers have more in common than you might think. In both he was a star and in both he could never make the finals. In the LLWS, the Canadians lost in the semifinals, and in the NHL, Turgeon twice made it to the Conference Finals, but never the Stanley Cup Finals. Although Turgeon hasn't been elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame yet, he did become the first native Canadian to be inducted into the Peter J. McGovern Little League Museum's Hall of Excellence in 2007.

But Turgeon was not the only Canuck who found success in Williamsport. Jason Bay, the 2004 NL Rookie of the Year, experienced baseball glory 14 years earlier with his team from Trial, British Columbia, Canada. In 1990, Bay helped Canada reach the semifinals before falling to eventual champions Taiwan.

In 2004, Bay became the first Canadian to win rookie of the year honors while with the Pirates. Bay made two All-Star tar teams with the Pirates in 2005 and 2006 before being traded to the Boston Red Sox in the Manny Ramirez deal. Bay continued his stellar play in Boston, making the 2009 All-Star team.

For a while it seemed like Matt Cassel's crowning achievement was going to be his performance in the 1994 Little League World Series. He was the star of the Northridge, Calif. team dubbed "The Earthquake Kids," after a quake in their hometown earlier in the year (it actually led to Cassel's home being condemned). He was 6-for-14 at Williamsport as the Northridge team won it all.

Matt Cassel has been a member of some amazing teams but it wasn't until only recently that he made this list. Sure, he had been on the roster of the USC Trojans when they won the AP National Championship in 2003 and the BCS Championship in 2004, but he barely played. He was also a member of the 2007 Patriots that went 16-0 during the regular season. Cassel seemed content to back up Tom Brady until he was thrust into the spotlight when Brady suffered a season ending injury in the first game of the 2008 season. Cassel guided the Patriots to an 11-5 regular season and was rewarded by signing a 6-year, $40.5 million contract with the Chiefs.

What star will the LLWS produce next? Only time will tell, but they may very well be getting their start in Williamsport right now.