I know it's early, but I was curious as to who looks to be among the best teams in the Northern Region in 2010. I think that West Springfield, McLean, Westfield, Centreville, and Lake Braddock are probably your five best teams on paper in no particular order.

Just wondering what others thought from around the region. South County? WT Woodson? Robinson? Any other Liberty or National teams to look out for?

Also, with WTW Woodson moving to the Patriot, the Patriot gets even more loaded with the Liberty dropping yet another notch behind the Concorde and Patriot. McLean should plow through that district this year with as many kids as they have back.

I pretty much agree with your top five, but am not familier with Centreville. Woodson should be pretty strong this year. Last year all the starting pitchers were sophmores, and did well. With another year under their belts the pitching will be very solid.

Yeah I agree that WTW looks strong this year. I would expect them to be a regional team in the Patriot, but they might still be a year away from really challenging WS or LB for the title.

If they can have one or two of those five young pitchers emerge as an elite guy, they will be very good because they swing the bats well. Pitching and defense has seemed to be Woodsons downfall against the top notch teams the past few years.

This is the year C-Ville has pointed to since Spencer took over the job. They haven't showed much ability to hit, although they took a jolt last year when Cam Walter was injured.

Westfield always has strong program, but they have several slots to fill. 3B, SS, 2B and couple of outfield positions.

Chantilly graduated their entire starting team except the catcher, so they will drop back a notch.

Herndon has new coach.

Oakton is still rebuilding.

Robinson has new/old coaching staff back and some talent to build on.

Centreville is going to be very strong in the Concorde this year, as will Oakton. They both had young teams last year and return most if not all of their key players. Robinson lost a lot of their key players through graduation last year, but about half their team will be returning starters; a little suspect in the pitching department, but the new/old coaching duo of Farrell (ex-Langley) and Evers (ex-and-now-returning-to Robinson) will get the most they can out of their staff.

West Springfield will be strong again as well, with Bobby Wahl and Charlie Morgan leading the charge for them. LB also had a relatively young team last year, and I'd expect them to do well with the experience they gained from last year's tough schedule. I think South County probably lost too much through graduation to be a major threat to either WS or LB this year.

Don't know about the other NR districts, other than what we've seen the last couple of years during NR playoffs -- I'd think McLean and Langley will be as strong as ever, though.

The only thing Centreville has proven to me is that they can win when Ashooh is on the mound. I have not been impressed with their hitting at all, the field is solid but with a new catcher this could change and I also feel that their 2B needs to sure up his glove too.

Mclean is the team I would look to be the best, they returned 7 starters if I remember correctly and they have Fitzgerald to cause havoc amongst the hitters in the NR.

I have a question to add. I had recently spoken to a parent of a Concorde player, he said that the Catcher from Chantilly, Dewitt, had moved. Is there any truth to this?

Yes - the family has moved to Ohio. There's an alleged backstory...

Wow that would seem to hurt Chantilly. He's a solid player. They certainly seem to be in a rebuilding year this spring but Coach Ford took over the program in a similar state and had them in the state tournament a few years later so I'd bet they won't be down for too long.

On another note, it seems like this is an especially good year for pitching in the region. Wahl from WS, Ashooh from Centreville, and Fitzgerald from McLean all are elite level seniors and there are other guys like Freer from Robinson, Bach from Centreville, and Buckley from McLean who have proven themselves to be tough to beat and are also D-1 possibilities.

Im probably leaving out many other good pitchers from the NR but it just seems like this is a strong year for good arms up here.

catcher is now back at chantilly, just in time for basketball season too!

Vabaseballfan -- "especially good year for pitching"? Compared to 2009, ok. Compared to 2008, 2007, etc -- I don't really think so, but interested in opinions.

This stuff is hard to compare year over year, but, 2008, for example, you had a bumper crop of good pitchers and good hitters. For 2010, one SEC, one ACC, one independent -- Notre Dame. What else?

Probably need to check on the ACC pitcher, my pick Woodson. They have four solid pitchers. The one McGillcuddy was clocked last night at 93. B Hough was clocked at 83 and on the other side J. Knoll for Flint Hill was topped at 89. Professional radar gun. Couple guys at 75. Add the four pitchers for Woodson along with catcher C. Reilly and some good hitters and you have my pick.

Wow 93 is throwing pretty hard for a junior. Maybe McGillicudy should have been included in the discussion about top pitchers earlier.

As far as this years crop of pitchers, I think like I said having three in one year as good as Wahl, Ashooh and Fitzgerald is as much depth as far as "elite" talent on the mound as there's been in some time. I very well could be wrong or forgetting some other years, though. I dont recall the '08 crop of pitchers as being nearly as strong as the hitters in that class were. You had Shane Halley (UVA) who was hurt for most of the year and Beal from South County who signed with the Orioles. Only thing is Beal was and is projectable, but he was hardly a dominant pitcher at SC in my opinion. I guess you could throw Somers from Chantilly in there as well.

Woodson should be very good, and we'll find out how good now that they're in the Patriot. However, it will take more than a kid throwing 93 and a couple in the 80's to surpass West Springfield or Lake Braddock in that district. I wonder if they'll play defense well enough to play with those teams consistently. If they can, they'll be really tough.

When I think of pitchers for 2008, in terms of guys who went D-1, I think of Beal (pro), Halley (UVA), Somers (ECU), Yates (W&M), Langford (Dartmouth), Williams (Xavier), the two guys from Stone Bridge who went to WVU. Although technically not in the NR, but who played against NR teams, I include Battlefield's Crouse (Young Harris/Ole Miss) and Scott (JMU). I may be missing some other D-1 guys. From 2007, you had the lefty from Madison who went to VMI, the righty from Robinson (USC), and the righty from Oakton (GW) as well as the SC guys Hald and Graham, correct? My memory is going too.

Elite level is hard to define, but if you just want to talk the top 2-3, then it does get subjective.

Regardless, the 3 you mention are very talented and 2010 will be a fun year.

bxbomber - I tend to agree with you. Woodson is moving to the Patriot at a very good time. While WS is likely to dominate again, I expect LB and SC to be in rebuilding mode - with LB probably further along than SC. Woodson has more pitching than any team in the Patriot, but as we all know only the top 2 pitchers get most of the innings so WS still gets the nod. The question will be whether the McGillicuddy's or Hough can make it through WS, SC, and LB. Given his array of pitches, Hough may be more of the key to beating the cream of the Patriot than the McGillicuddys. No question they will dominate against the rest of the league. I wouldn't be surprised to see them split a pair with LB and SC, lose both to WS and win the rest with a possible let down or two along the way. Should put them firmly in the Regional mix. Also agree with your comment about defense being the key for them.

I am not sure about SC having a rebuilding year but LB has everyone back from their lineup except for Derner. I would not call this a rebuiding year for LB. I watched the Woodson pitchers all summer and they have four good ones. With their pitching, Woodson will be a threat to win any game including the WS game. I also think that TC Williams will win their share of games as they have some talent there as well. There won't be many gimme games in the Patriot District this year.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by bxbomber:
Probably need to check on the ACC pitcher, my pick Woodson.


What do you mean by that "check on ACC" comment. You talking about the Woodson pitcher??

This goes back to the "superball" reply, of the league having a sec, acc and independent pitcher in NoVA.

Not sure the status of the acc pitcher is intact. Nothing to do with Woodson.

The pitcher you are talking about used to be on this site a lot. IF he and UVA have parted ways, he'll land somewhere else.

bxbomber....can you give more detail on "ACC status not intact". Who are you talking about and are you referring to UVA?

batboy09.... I have heard from a couple of NOVA coaches that the Concorde pitcher with the UVA offer may have been rescinded. This is why I asked in my post above to "check on that". There are only two people who can confirm this, the family and the school. Like superball said he is a fine pitcher and will IF this is the case land somewhere.