Loudoun County Hawks Win Showcase In Ohio
The Loudoun County Hawks, a 17U travel baseball team, traveled to Columbus, Ohio to participate in the Buckeye Elite Showcase Baseball Tournament. The Hawks returned to Loudoun as champions, as they grabbed the Buckeye Elite Tournament Title...
Photo By: Mark Putnick
COLUMBUS, OH - The Loudoun County Hawks, a 17U travel baseball team affiliated with the Northern Virginia Travel Baseball League (NVTBL), traveled to Columbus, Ohio July 7th - 11th 2010, pounding their way to win the Buckeye Elite Showcase Baseball Tournament 18U Championship. The Hawks team is comprised primarily of rising seniors from several high schools located in Loudoun County.
The 18U bracket of the tournament drew 96 teams primarily from Ohio and the other Great Lakes states. Teams had to win their pool games before being considered for the championship bracket. The Hawks went 3-0 in pool play and even came out in first place in run differential by scoring a combined 34 runs and only giving up three runs total in 3 games. Yielding only three runs was important, as rain postponed part of the tournament and only eight teams could advance to the championship round.
In the championship round, The Hawks won their quarterfinal game in extra innings, winning 6-4 in 10 innings, highlighted with a 2-run home run by Potomac Falls High School and Dulles District Player of the Year Mike Lascomb. In the semifinal match up, the Hawks took advantage of a depleted pitching corps of their next opponent, and won 11-4. That victory set the Hawks up to play in the championship game held at Huntington Park in Columbus, the home field for the AAA ball club, the Columbus Clippers.
In the championship game, The Hawks faced an elite travel team from Ohio, which had a national sponsorship and 10 players entering college this fall to play different levels of divisional baseball. The Hawks jumped out early to take the lead 3-0, and hung on to win a very tight game, 7-6, in front of a very Ohio -biased group of fans.
The Hawks will continue their NVTBL play for two more weeks and wrap up their season at a Showcase tournament at the University of Maryland next weekend.
