Northern Region Baseball Tournament Arrives

It's that time of the year again, time for the Northern Region Baseball Tournament to begin. Sixteen teams have advanced from their district tournaments and are ready for the second session of the postseason to begin. There are some familiar names and some big name teams missing this year.

The 16 teams this year are: from the Concorde (Robinson, , , Oakton), Liberty (Stone Bridge, McLean, Marshall, Langley), Patriot (Lake Braddock, West Springfield, South County, West Potomac), and National (Yorktown, Stuart, Washington & Lee, Wakefield). The notable teams missing are annual powerhouse Madison, Hayfield, W.T. Woodson, and Fairfax.The top teams this season in the region have been Stone Bridge, Lake Braddock, McLean, and the entire Concorde District which was the most competitive during district play this year. Even their district championship game saw Robinson down top seed Westfield 4-2 on Westfield's home field.

One of the first round games and the best match-up features McLean hosting Centreville. This is a rematch from the first round in 2009 when Centreville upset McLean 1-0 and went on to play Lake Braddock in the second round. Should the Wildcats continue their magic and the Bruins advance we could see them again in the quarterfinals. Two rematches from a few years ago, can you ask for much better?

The first round will begin tomorrow night with eight games being played at the higher seed and all games scheduled for 7 PM first pitches. The quarterfinals will be played Monday afternoon with four games taking place, two each at Lake Braddock and Madison (1 and 4 PM). Regional semi finals will be on Wednesday, May 30 at Madison (4 and 7 PM) and the championship game will also be at Madison on Friday, June 1 (7 PM).

Tomorrow's first round match-ups are: Wakefield at Lake Braddock, at McLean, Marshall at Westfield, West Potomac at Yorktown, Langley at Robinson, South County at Stuart, Washington & Lee at West Springfield, Oakton at Stone Bridge. The first four winners will play at Lake Braddock on Monday and the second four winners will travel to Madison.

My first round predictions are: Lake Braddock, Centreville, Westfield, Yorktown, Robinson, South County, West Springfield, Oakton.

Should there be any weather issues the tournament hotline is 703-883-4647. Hope you can all enjoy some baseball and see the best of what the Northern Region has to offer throughout the next week.