PEFYA Sees Double At DYB State Tournaments
Published 4:29 pm Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Three area Dixie Youth Baseball teams will participate in State Tournament action this weekend at Parker Park in South Hill.
The Prince Edward Farmville Minor League team, and the Major League teams from Prince Edward Farmville and Buckingham will represent the area in their respective tournaments beginning Friday.
Unfortunately for those followers of PE Farmville, both teams will be playing at, more or less, the same time on Friday afternoon.
Minors (AAA)
The PE Farmville Minor League team crushed its District V competition by going undefeated against a field that, generally comprises one of the most competitive districts in the state.
The PEFYA All-Stars out-scored their opponents by a combined total of 62-7 over five games that took just 19 innings to play.
Things won't come quite as easy for the PEFYA All-Stars this weekend. At 1:30, PE Farmville will begin its run to a State Championship against District IV champion Powhatan American.
The winner will advance to the 5:30 game on Saturday, and will play the winner of Friday's 3:30 p.m. game between Appomattox (District VI)/Brunswick (District II) winner.
The losers of the two games will play an elimination game at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.
In the other half of the bracket, District VII Champion Salem will take on District III Champ Christiansburg at 5:30 p.m. Tournament host South Hill will face District I Tournament Champion Galax in the night cap at 7:30.
The tournament will run until either Tuesday or Wednesday, July 24-25.
The winner will advance to the Dixie Youth Baseball Minor League (AAA) World Series, which is scheduled to begin on August 4 in Bartow, Florida.
Majors
The Prince Edward Farmville and Buckingham Major League clubs will take part in the 55th-Annual Dixie Youth Baseball Virginia State Tournament, slated to begin on Friday at Parker Park in South Hill.
The two teams, which have played one-another as both prepared for their respective district tournaments, will meet in the tournament's first game of the day.
Originally scheduled to be the 8 p.m. game on the first day, the contest was moved to the first game of the day, because tournament host South Hill opted to play the final game on Friday. Though it doesn't always happen, it is customary for a tournament host to elect to play its opening round game in the evening half of the first day's contests.
Prince Edward Farmville enters the tournament as the runners-up from District V. Buckingham was the runners-up in District IV.
Prince Edward Farmville enters the tournament with some momentum, despite losing to District V Champion Dinwiddie American 7-2.
The PEFYA All-Stars went 3-2 in the tournament, and seemed to develop confidence as the tournament went on.
Buckingham, which was a State Tournament finalist in 2011, was soundly defeated by Goochland in the District IV Championship game. Goochland, also a 2011 State Finalist, returns a majority of its line up from last year's squad, and should be a favorite heading into this weekend.
The winner of the Prince Edward Farmville/Buckingham game will face the Clarksville (District II)/Emporia Greensville (District II) winner at 8 p.m. on Saturday. The losers of the two games will face off at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
The other half of the bracket has District V Champ Dinwiddie American facing District V third-place team, and in-county foe, Dinwiddie National at 4 p.m.
District IV Champion Goochland will face tournament host South Hill at 8 p.m.
The winners will square off against one-another on Saturday at 6 p.m., while the losers will kick off the Day Two festivities at 2 p.m.
The tournament will run until either Tuesday or Wednesday, July 24-25. The winner will advance to the Dixie Youth Baseball Major League World Series, which is scheduled to begin on August 4, in Bartow, Florida.
WVHL 92.9 FM To Broadcast State Tournaments
WVHL 92.9 FM will broadcast the tournaments from start to finish, including Friday's match up between Prince Edward Farmville and Buckingham at 2 p.m. Constant updates from PE Farmville's Minor League game against Powhatan American (1:30 p.m.) will be given during the broadcast.
The station will broadcast a full slate of games, with games of local interest (PEFYA's Majors and Minors and Buckingham's Majors) taking precedent.