Loudoun South hosts Virginia little league tournament

Every summer, thousands of 11-12 year-olds across the globe compete for the Little League World Series title. The tournament pits the United States against the world. Each is in its own bracket until the championship, where the best Americans will play the cream of the rest of the world’s crop.

But the road to the LLWS championship is a long one. First comes district championships, which ended a week ago. Now is step two: state tournaments.

This year, Loudoun County hosts the Virginia tourney. There are 16 districts in The Commonwealth, so each district gets to host the event once every 16 years.

Teams will meet at Freedom Park in Leesburg starting Friday morning at 10 a.m., but the tournament kicks off Thursday night with an opening ceremony at the field at 6 p.m. The official tournament website posted the schedule here.

The 2011 competition features four Northern Virginia area teams; Loudon South (champions of district 16, the host district), Reston National, West Springfield Am and SYA East, who represents Clifton and Centreville. Every weekday morning, Northern Virginia Magazine’s Buzz Bin blog will post updates of the Northern Virginia teams’ games, keeping you up-to-date with their quest for a state title and a spot in the regional tournament. You can also follow the tournament via its official Twitter account, vadist16. Game updates will be posted there and the site will be updated sometime afterward. Tweets are also registered on the right side of the website.

Little league tournaments are double-elimination. Pool play starts Friday and goes through Sunday. There are four pools with four teams in each, and by the end of Sunday only half will remain. The tournament then switches to a bracket style that concludes with the championship on Wednesday, July 27 at 7:30 p.m.

The victor represents Virginia in the Southeastern regional tourney, which will pit the state champs against other state champs from Georgia, North Carolina and others. The winner of each regional tournament plays for the national title.

The only Virginian team to play for the world title was a Richmond squad back in 1968. It may not be a Chicago Cubs-like drought, but Virginia has long awaited another contender.

- Colin Daileda

Tags: baseball tournament, Colin Daileda, little league baseball, Little League World Series, LLWS, Loudoun South, Northern Virginia, Northern Virginia Magazine, nova magazine, Reston National, SYA East, VA District 16, vadist16, virginia tournament, West Springfield Am