Nationals Arm Race

Welcome to my DC Area Prep Baseball Tourney coverage for 2018.

Here’s the rough schedule of posting and what we’ll cover:

• #1: DC/MD/VA District High School Tournament Report: post-season kickoff .  Covers: MD regionals, VA district brackets, Private school tourney updates.  Usually publishes the week before Memorial day tournament finals.
• #2: Maryland State Champs, Virginia District and Regional Champs crowned.   Covers: MD state finals, VA regionals tourneys, DC playoff results.  Usually publishes after the Memorial Day weekend tournaments finish up.
• #3: Virginia State Champions crowned (this post).  Covers: VA state tourneys, recaps MD, DC, Private School results.  Publishes mid-June once the Va state tourney wraps up.
• #4: My theoretical “All DC/MD/VA Dream tournament” pairings, once all the state champs are finalized.
• #5: Players of the Year/All-State lists and final rankings; publishes early July once all the all-state lists are published.

Lets see where we stand now with Virginia having completed their regional tournaments and setup state semi finals’ matchups.

All Virginia regional finals were played on 6/1/18, and all state tournaments finished up on 6/10/18.  Winners in all cases highlighted in bold red.

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Virginia State tourney match-ups and tourney locations

All the state tourneys ran from June 5th-10th at the various sites.  All state brackets available from this link at VHSL, and the regional brackets are here.

 

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Class 6 State Finals: Quarters on 6/5/18, Semis and Finals held at Deep Run HS in Richmond.

• Class 6 Region A: First Colonial winner, Western Branch runner-up.
• Class 6 Region B: Cosby winner, Thomas Dale runner-up.
• Class 6 Region C: West Springfield winner, Lake Braddock runner-up.
• Class 6 Region D: Battlefield winner, Chantilly runner-up

Class 6 State Quarters results:  Thomas Dale upset First Colonial 7-0, Western Branch upset Cosby 7-1 on a near no-hitter from Antonio Velazquez, West Springfield defeats Chantilly 4-2,  and Lake Braddock rallied late to upset Battlefield 6-5 in a battle of NoVa’s two top teams.

Class 6 State Semis Results: Western Branch defeats Thomas Dale 6-5 in extra innings.  West Springfield defeats Lake Braddock  6-2 for the 2nd time in a week to advance to the state title game.

Class 6 State Final: West Springfield blew open the game late to defeat the defending state champs 12-2 to take their first title since 2010.

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Class 5 State Finals: Quarters on 6/5/18, Semis held at Glen Allen HS, final at Deep Run  HS in Richmond.

• Class 5 Region A: Menchville winner, Maury runner-up.
• Class 5 Region B: Deep Run winner, Prince George runner-up.
• Class 5 Region C: Freedom-South Riding winner, Briar Woods runner-up.
• Class 5 Region D: Potomac winner, Halifax County runner-up

Class 5 State Quarters results: Prince George upsets Menchville 8-1,  Deep Run beat Maury 8-6, Freedom-SR beats Halifax County 5-4, Potomac defeats defending state champ Briar Woods 3-1.

Class 5 State Semis Results:  Potomac blanked Freedom-South Riding 7-0, and Prince George got revenge for last week’s regional final and ended Deep Run’s cinderella story 7-3.

Class 5 State Final: Prince George beats Potomac 8-0 behind a 1-hit shutout from Buck Forbes.

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Class 4 State Finals: Quarters on 6/5/18, Semis held at Kiwanis, final at Salem Memorial stadium in Salem (Roanoke).

• Class 4 Region A: Grafton winner, Jamestown runner-up
• Class 4 Region B: Dinwiddie winner, Powahatan runner-up.
• Class 4 Region C: Fauquier winner, Woodgrove runner-up.
• Class 4 Region D: Salem winner, Amherst County runner-up.

Class 4 State Quarters results:  Grafton defeats Powahatan 3-0, Jamestown upset Dinwiddie 7-3, Fauquier beat Amherst County 3-2 and Salem beat Woodgrove 7-2.

Class 4 State Semis Results: Jamestown got revenge against Grafton 10-8, and Salem downed Fauquier 8-3 behind a seven-run 6th inning.

Class 4 State Final: Salem walked-off against Jamestown to win their first state title 2-1.

 

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Smaller Classifications: 

3A Quarters on 6/5/18, Semis and Final at Salem Memorial stadium in Salem (Roanoke).

• Class 3 Region A: Hopewell winner, York runner-up
• Class 3 Region B: Brentsville winner, Spotsylvania runner-up.
• Class 3 Region C: Fluvanna County winner, Western Albemarle runner-up.
• Class 3 Region D: Abington winner, Northside runner-up.

Class 3 State Quarters results: Spotsylvania upset Hopewell 5-2, Brentsville beats York 4-1, Fluvana County beat Northside 5-1, and Abington downed Western Albemarle 6-3,

Class 3 State Semis Results: Spotsylvania gets regional revenge over Brentsville 8-6, and Abington gets by Fluvanna County 8-2.

Class 3 State Final: Spotsylvania and Abington had to go to extra innings, where Spotsylvania prevailed 13-8 after exploding for 5 runs in the 8th.

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2A and 1A brackets at VHSL site

• Class 2 State Quarter finalists: Maggie Walker (2016’s 2-A champ), Stuarts Draft, Tazewell, Appotomax County
• Class 2 State Semi finalists: Goochland, Chatham
• Class 2 State Final: Page County over Virginia High 5-4.
• Class 1 State Quarterfinalists:  West Point, Central-Lunenberg, Galax, Auburn (2017’s 1-A champion)
• Class 1 State Semi finalists: Northumberland, Patrick Henry-Glade Spring
• Class 1 State Final: Riverheads pounded Honaker 13-1 for the Class 1 State title.

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Recent Virginia HS champs:  Virginia has Class 1 through Class 6.  Before 2014, we just AAA, AA and A.

2017: See this post for 2017’s state tournament wrap-up for all 6 divisions

• In 6-A, Western Branch d Cox 6-4.  Oakton, Patriot semis.
• In 5-A, Briar Woods d Halifax 5-4 in 14 innings.  Menchville and Prince George semi-finalists.
• In 4-A, Liberty Christian Academy d Hanover 8-5.  Harrisonburg, Great Bridge semi-finalists.
• In the smaller classifications, Turner Ashby won 3-A, Dan River won 2-A and Auburn won 1-A.

2016: See this post for 2016’s state tournament wrap-up for all 6 divisions

• In 6-A, Chantilly d Battlefield 3-2.  Hylton & Cosby state semis.
• In 5-A, Nansemond River defeated Mountain View 5-3.  Potomac, Mills Godwin semi finalists.
• In 4-A, Hanover d Liberty Christian Academy 13-12.  Jamestown, Kettle Run semi finalists.
• In the smaller classifications, Rustberg repeated 3-A, Maggie Walker won in 2-A and Rappahannock won 1-A.

2015: See this post for 2015’s state tournament wrapup for all 6 divisions:

• In 6-A, Madison d Chantilly 6-5.  First Colonial & defending champ Western Branch were state semifinalists.
• In 5-A, Stone Bridge d Marshall 9-4.  2014 finalists Hickory & Freeman were state semifinalists.
• In 4-A, Glen Allen d Jefferson Forrest 9-3.  Fauquier & Hanover were state semifinalists.
• In the smaller classifications, Lafayette won 3-A, Virginia High repeated in 2-A and William Campbell won 1-A.

2014: see this post for 2014’s state tournament wrap up for all 6 divisions.

• In 6-A, Western Branch d Chantilly 6-4.  McLean and Cosby were state semifinalists.
• In 5-A, Hickory d Freeman 6-4.  Stone Bridge and the surprising Freedom-South Riding semi finalists.
• In 4-A, Hanover d Millbrook 7-1.
• In the smaller classifications, Loudoun Valley won 3-A, Virginia High won 2-A and Northumberland won 1-A.

2013: AAA: Hanover d Great Bridge. Hanover’s super-junior Derek Casey (committed to UVA) outlasts Great Bridge and their 1st round talent Connor Jones (now attending UVA after spurning a likely late 1st round draft position).  Lake Braddock and Oakton beaten in the semis.

2012: AAA: Lake Braddock d Kellam 4-0. Lake Braddock lost to West Springfield in the regional title game but then blitzed to a state championship.

2011: AAA: Great Bridge d South County in the state final, giving the powerful South County its first and only loss on the season after starting the season 28-0.  Lake Braddock was the regional finalist and lost to Great Bridge in the state quarters.

2010: AAA: West Springfield d Woodbridge in the final, giving Woodbridge its only loss on the year. WT Woodson regional finalist.

Complete history of Virginia HS Champions: from VHSL’s website.  Covers all sports and has results for a century.  Lots of fun to dig through.  Note: if this link fails, its because VHSL has moved it yet again; I have an updated copy of the history books in PDF format.

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That wraps up Virginia, the last local state to play its tourneys.