Woodbridge gets ready to host state Little League tournament

Veterans Memorial Park will be quite busy beginning July 22.

That is because Woodbridge Little League has been chosen to host the Virginia State Seniors Tournament for the fourth time after doing so in 2001, 2006 and 2008.

The tournament runs through July 27 and consists of 14 teams who represent 16 districts in the state of Virginia. Woodbridge Little League is in District 9, whose teams are also from Fairfax and in South County Little League.

The tournament’s teams consist of players ages 15-16.

“These 14 teams have all won their local district tournaments,” tournament chair Donnie Hensley said. “These are the best 14 teams from each district in the state of Virginia. Most [players] play for their high school teams. This is serious competition.”

A team from the Dumfries Triangle Quantico Little League is the only squad from Prince William County.

The DTQ squad certainly did not have to travel far. Teams from Clintwood, Bristol and Virginia Beach sure did. But those from afar are certain to receive a warm greeting to the city of Woodbridge.

“We want to go out there and help out the community,” Hensley said. “It’s a lot of work and we’ll get quite a bit out of it.

“There are teams from all over the state of Virginia here and there are teams travelling eight hours to get here. We have a team that is almost from Kentucky. They are from the very far edge of Virginia.”

Preparation for the State Seniors Tournament began last September. The early planning involved obtaining sponsors, getting the meal plan in place for the opening-night picnic, getting the honor guard together to present colors for the national anthem and getting people to come in to serve as announcers.

“I’ve seen you have to do so much to pull this thing off,” WLL secretary Mike Flood said. “We’re [talking to] local businesses and getting ones to do free lunches for us. We’re having an opening night picnic. I’ve learned a lot from this. A lot of people are doing different things. We coordinate with [Prince William] Park Authority and there are volunteers from the business community helping us. So a lot goes into this.”

Hensley said 20-30 volunteers and some local Marines will make sure the tournament runs smoothly. The Marines will rake the fields to ensure that they are properly maintained. They will clean the park and dugouts, set up water coolers for the players and coaches and keep track of pitchers’ pitch counts.

“I have worked a state tournament and you have to have enough people to know what they’re doing and have it be rewarding for the players and parents,” Hensley said. “Starting with the first picnic, the players are going to remember the game, but the parents are going to remember the ambience around the field.

“There are people that have done several tournaments and know what needs to be done. We make sure those things are taken care of.”

The tournament format is double elimination. The winner advances to the regional tournament in Viera, Fla. The regional winner heads to the Senior League Baseball World Series in Bangor, Maine. The World Series is from Aug. 14-20.

Admission to the Seniors Tournament is free. Programs will be sold and each field will have its own kitchen where workers will sell hamburgers and hot dogs.

Staff writer Robert Daski can be reached at 703-530-3913.

Virginia State Little League Seniors Tournament (ages 15-16)

When: July 22-27Where: Stewart Christiano Baseball Complex at Veterans Memorial Park in Woodbridge

Number of team: 14

Local team:The Dumfries-Triangle-Quantico team is the District 9 champion. They begin play Saturday.

For the full schedule, go to http://www.vad9.org/vastate/index.html and click on tournament for the bracket and also game schedule.

Winner goes where: The winner of this tournament will head to Viera Suntree, Florida for the Southeast Region tournament Aug 5-12.