Northern Region Predictions

I think LB and WS will be tough. Watch out for Woodson.

My preseason top 5 would be the same as in the fall:

Take your pick out of West Springfield, Lake Braddock, Westfield, McLean, or Centreville.

Other teams to look out for: Woodson, Madison, South County

Agree with the top 5 Fan.

South County is another good one to watch out for. What made you put Madison on the list?

LB, Centreville, West Springfield (at least when Wahl is pitching) will all be strong. I think Oakton will also be very good this year, but they're one year away from being great. I'm betting on McLean, however; from what we saw last year in the spring break tourney and regionals, they return a very solid lineup.

I mentioned Madison because they were very young last year and did win something like 13 or 14 games even though they didnt make regionals. Also, I think that besides McLean the Liberty is going to be pretty weak so I'd expect them to have a pretty good season and with Pudge coaching them they'll have confidence by postseason.

They are not on the same level as these other teams that have been mentioned as far as talent but I just kind of see them putting a real nice season together this year after being "down" last year.

Fan, Sound logic!

I think off the bat, McLean and Lake Braddock have to be the early season favorites; based simply off their success last year and the number of returning starters they will have (McLean loses Payne and Bleweis and Lake Braddock Derner only, I believe). Teams like West Springfield return some absolute studs(Wahl, Morgan), but also have lost great players from last year..the question is also whether they have a number two pitcher behind Wahl; then again though, last year Lake Braddock didn't have a great number two behind Derner but were able to use him every game in the region playoffs based on their schedule matchups. Centreville and Westfield should both again be strong backed by great starting pitching. The question with them will be whether they have enough offense to get by other teams' great pitching. Woodson should also be in the mix as they return a large number of starters and from what I've heard several of their players have made tremendous strides of improvement this offseason. Should be a fun year, as I don't think any team will dominate the Region.

Who will LB have pitching for them this year?

My guess is the pitchers for LB will be Ryan Lindemuth(Sr.), Thomas Gramsch(Sr.), Kenny Towns (Jr.), and a couple of sophomores.

Did Towns pitch last year? I know he's an outstanding hitter.

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Originally posted by bcb3:
Did Towns pitch last year? I know he's an outstanding hitter.

Usually these guys pitch, hit, catch,........they flat out play.

Did Towns pitch last year?

He probably pitched around 15 - 20 innings last spring and about the same over the summer.

LB under Rutherford has always done a terrific job out of getting it done without a ton of depth on the mound. They won the region in 2008 basically with very little from Halley as a pitcher, who was coming back from a sore arm but was their most talented guy. They won it in 2006 with the left handed kid (Infante??) carrying the load for them and as someone said earlier, they got a lot from Derner to make states last year but they really just kind of pieced it together when he wasn't available.

LB is always amongst the best hitting teams around. I dont see that changing anytime soon, so as long as they get solid pitching they should be right in the mix. They don't need to get unbelievable pitching. They just need guys to throw strikes and be solid.

LB, West Springfield, McLean... everything else is a tossup in my opinion.

Anyone have any thoughts on Stone Bridge for this year?

If Im not mistaken, SB lost a lot of seniors from their 2009 squad. Bladel was a great player for them both as a hitter and pitcher, so he'll be really tough to replace.

White, Rositano, and Lambke are all very good players and should make the middle of their lineup tough.

Even though I have no idea who they have coming back on the mound, Plank does a great job with their program and they'll be well coached no matter who they have.

One thing to remember: they tend to play epic games with McLean just about every time they match up. I think I saw something last year on Gameday that said that they've played each other 10 times and every game has been decided by three runs or less. Even though McLean is absolutely loaded this year, it wouldnt surprise me at all if SB beat them at least once. They may well be the 2nd best team in the Liberty on paper........for whatever that's worth.

Couldn't agree more @ SB - they'll be very well coached... again.
Interesting about the McLean/SB "rivalry". I did not know that the scores were that close over the years. I'll have to mark those games on my calendar.

Oh, and the rest of the Liberty District baseball? Madison, of course, gets a nod, but the rest, not so much. In fact, it's pretty bad baseball.

X factor for SB......my heart goes out to the Timbers family. As mentioned in another thread, SB Asst. Varsity Coach James Timbers passed away last week, losing his battle to colon cancer.

My son played for him at SB and I had nothing but the utmost respect for Coach Timbers.

Who will Coach Plank get to replace him?
Win or lose, I am confident their season will be dedicated to "JT".

The Bulldogs have lost 2 "baseball family members" to cancer over the last 3+ years. In 2007, Megan Ryan succumbed to cancer. She was a team manager and younger sister of Sean (Football standout and All State Baseball player for SB). The Spring 2008 season was dedicated to Megan, her picture prominently displayed inside the dugout.

Sean is playing his final season for the Hokies this spring.

Megan and James.........we miss you both!

I'm not a big fan with how they are managed, but I think that TC Williams has the talent to contend with SC, LB, WTW and WS.

While I think that WTW returns some very talented emerging players, Id personally just have a tough time picking a team that came in 5th place in the Liberty District last year to win the Patriot one year later. I guess I could see them possibly finishing ahead of either WS or LB, but even that is a long shot in my opinion. More likely in 2011. LB returns almost their whole squad from a team that made the state tournament, and WS has Wahl back, so I think you gotta put both ahead of WTW.......at least imo.

Regardless, the Patriot is the best district in the region by far from top to bottom in my opinion. Has been for the past three years or so.

Folks: I am always partial to LB given that my two sons play(ed) there. In spite of that, I think some of the observations that have been mentioned are accurate. They don't really have a Wahl (or Derner) this year. The ace will likely be a shortstop headed to W&M. That said, they are ALWAYS a factor in the Patriot - last year was a fine example - making the state tourney after losing 7 starting seniors from the 2008 team. With most of the starters returning, they will battle for the title. WTW joining the district is a great thing. It will provide 2 more tough games for every team in the district (Hayfield had become a bye-week for the Patriot). I think WTW will find that there are no gimme games in the Patriot. Lee and Annandale are the weakest teams, but they are capable of jumping up and biting the rest. WTW has loads of pitching, but in the Patriot, you have to put up runs and their offense and defense is not as highly-touted. IMHO WS will still be the strongest team just because they can trot out Wahl every other game. They also have some very good arms after him. If they hit at all, they'll be tough. SC will likely be in a rebuilding mode and could (as mentioned earlier) be on the bubble this year. They will need some young arms to step up. TC needs to deliver on some of the expectations they've had for the last few years. The preseason pundits always talk about the talent at TC, but they never seem to crack the top three. West Pot may be the most intriguing team this year. There are some young players there that played well in LL and travel ball and should be moving up to Varsity this year. They could be press SC and TC for the last regional spot. Since we are offering our thoughts on how they will shake out - here is mine:

1) WS
2) LB
3) WTW
4) SC (until TC and WP knock them off)
5) TC
6) WP
7) Lee
8) Annandale

WP is my selection for team most likely to surprise.

NoVa ball - I think SoCo is going to struggle against West Po and TC Williams. I think they lost 8 Seniors... and they came in 3rd last year with the 8. I agree on both points about West Po and TC Williams. They are the wild cards.

Patriot District order should be:

1) West Springfield - has great pitching and some good hitters, best all around team.
2) Woodson has very solid pitching but not much on offense.
3) TC Williams has the top hitting team, but lacks pitching and last year struggled on defense.
4) Lake Braddock should be very good defensive team that will score just enough to win.
5) South County has some good hitters but again, they lack the pitching to compete seriously.
6) West Potomac is a young team that might pull off some upsets. Look out for them next year.
7)Lee has two solid starters but don't have the hitting to compete.
8)Annandale has one strong pitcher, but offense needs to improve.

Since this thread is about the Northern Region rather than the Patriot District, I'll remind all of you not to overlook Westfield and Centreville coming out of the Concorde -- either of those teams should give both WS and LB some pretty stiff competition in the NR this coming season...

I agree. Centreville showed last year with their upset of McClean that with Ashooh pitching (regardless of their offensive shortcomings) they can beat any team in the region. Add in the fact that they have a good #2 in Bach and they have a strong team that could make a run to the state playoffs. Westfield returns the best 1,2 pitching punch (at least statistically) in the region and return several pieces from their offense last year (Scoville, Hoover, Ferrington, Sweet) so they too have a strong chance to advance to the state playoffs. I think last year, like every year, it's pitching and timely hitting that win teams championships. You have to put the pitching depth of both C-ville and Westfield up with any team in the Patriot or the region for that matter, and as a result they should not be overlooked.

I agree with you on Centerville. Westfield will also be tough with Thorpe and Hoover pitching.

quote:

I think last year, like every year, it's pitching and timely hitting that win teams championships. You have to put the pitching depth of both C-ville and Westfield up with any team in the Patriot or the region for that matter, and as a result they should not be overlooked.

Pitching wins games, IMO, and you need more than one, especially when games start to get rained out and you need to play 3+ in a week. That was why I questioned WS coming in 1st in Pat district.

Does anyone know if Thorpe committed?

I believe he's committed to St. Joseph's if Im not mistaken.

By the way, I agree 100% about the importance of depth of pitching. Its probably relevant to remember, however, that LB has been the exception to that rule twice in the past four years in winning the NR and last year in getting to the finals. You dont need two studs on the mound if you are truly an elite offensive team as LB was in '08, or if you have one stud and a great draw as they did last year, or if you just have a great coach as they have in Rutherford. I dont know if he gets enough credit for what has gone on there these past five years.

What do you think will be the ranking in the liberty district?

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I believe he's committed to St. Joseph's if Im not mistaken.

That is correct.

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You dont need two studs on the mound if you are truly an elite offensive team as LB was in '08, or if you have one stud and a great draw as they did last year, or if you just have a great coach as they have in Rutherford.

Yeah, but WS did a number on LB in the district play- offs with Wahl. Are you sure it was their offense talent that got them to that point? or could it be that SoCo and TCWilliams were not as strong pitching? Just asking. Could it be that the other teams were not as strong pitching? I don't remember if LB beat WS during the season.

I think Rutherford gets enough credit. He's got a decent amount of talent to ensure he has at least 10 kids watching from the bench. If he had a roster of 12, then it would be more impressive. He's a good coach, it would be more interesting to see what he could do with let's say Annandale. Get them a district title and then I say yeah, he's a great Coach.

In terms of pure talent, I think you could argue that the Lake Braddock team of 09' wasn't even one of the top 7 most talented teams in the region (West Springfield, Westfield, Chantilly, Robinson, McLean, Stone Bridge, South County) ...yet, they played great together, had timely hitting, and played the game with exceptional fundamentals. All of this reflects on the coach's abilities...I don't think there's any arguing Rutherford is a great coach.

Please note I'm not saying I think that those above teams are more talented than LB, but the argument could be made that they had more talent that didn't perform to their potential...obviously that's why you play the games...

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Yeah, but WS did a number on LB in the district play- offs with Wahl.

Can you tell me what year that was? It certainly wasn't 08 and Wahl did not pitch against LB in the district playoffs last year. LB did not beat WS last year in three attempts, the last being in the Northern Region finals. You can bet that LB will see Wahl every time they play this year.

Monstah, point I was trying to make earlier is that LB even got to states last year. I think it would be easy to not appreciate Rutherford since they do have a lot of talent over there. However, a lot of schools in the region have talent in their buildings, but only LB has played in three out of the last five state tournaments and won the region twice. That's consistency. That's winning with different groups of players. To me, that is evidence that a great program has been put in place.

I think Rutherford is a good Coach. Yes he has built a great program. The point is he actually has to cut kids for the program. The others mentioned above can just scrape enough kids to form a team. So why do the Yankees make it the playoffs each year? Is it the coaching? or the players? I think to suggest that they are lacking in talent is quite frankly an injustice to the players. He has back-ups to back-ups. Some of the other teams scrape enough kids to get by.

Golfball my mistake, I thought Wahl pitched that game at Madison.

Did LB get to states last year? I thought they did very well at northern regionals, but got knocked out at by WS.

Yes. By making it to the region finals you qualify for state. Two teams from each region qualify. Except for Derner, LB will have every starter back from last year.

Then you are correct, WS will be pitching Wahl against LB. It will put everyone's theory to the test. Can LB prevail on offense alone?

Just to clarify, my theory isnt that LB can win on "offense alone". I just pointed out that they've won multiple region championships in the past without more than one stud pitcher, which is how this conversation got started I thought.

Wahl is gonna be hard for anybody to beat. Nobody is going to beat him on offense alone because WS hits the ball too well for that. It will take somebody throwing a great game against WS while he is pitching in addition to a very good hitting team.