Northern Virginia Semis

I don't have any problem with the neutral field...I definitely think it should be a neutral field to the extent that taking the opposite teams from above, if Madison and Stone Bridge win tonight, the game shouldn't be played at either of their fields. Right now, if Madison makes the finals, they get a home game. If you have to use a non-neutral field, then it should be the higher seed's field (which in this case WOULD be Madison)...Same would go for the State Tourney if for example Westfield was to make it there...

I noticed all games in the Eastern Region are played at ODU...why doesn't the Northern Region play at GMU? I'm sure the other regions could also find a college field to play on as well. I certainly think they could find a college or minor league field some place for the State Semis and Final...

Just my thoughts...Haven't picked yet, won't start at this point...

Neutral fields once past the opening round are fine with me. My gripe is playing at a field where the center field fence starts 290' from home plate. This distance was given to me by parents of Woodson baseball. There should be a minimum distance to the fence for a field to be acceptable as a neutral site to host quarterfinal games and beyond.

This type of thinking is very logical and well-constructed, so obviously that's not the way the Northern Region does it.

A site has to have two things before it is named a "neutral" host for NR tournament games:

1. Sites are almost always "centrally located". That basically means schools that are somewhere in the middle of Fairfax County. This is why you see Madison, Oakton, WTW, Lake Braddock, and Robinson as such common sites. There are sometimes exceptions to this rule (i.e. South County hosting regional games in 2008), but it doesnt happen very often.

2. A nuetral host site has to have an athletic dept. staff that is willing to give up their Memorial Day plans to stay at home and act as site coordinators. Like it or not, there are just a lot of AD's from a lot of schools in the region who are not at all interested in doing this. There is a reason why there is usually a correlation between strong baseball programs and schools who host. You dont often see a school hosting who doesn't have a very strong program year in and year out because administrators dont want to operate games for tournaments their schools aren't likely to do well in.


Again, Im in agreement with the idea that host sites should be bigger and should not involve a team playing in the actual game. These issues have been debated for quite some time, with the end result always boiling down to the reasons listed above.

TurnTwoNet,
You are right that the Eastern Region is at ODU. A chance to play at a neutral nicely maintained D1 field make it a special time for the kids, however a centerfield depth of about 390 or so makes a very different game for some teams. A fair # of fly ball outs to the track that most likely would be out at high school fields.

To hear bxbomber say that cf was 290' is amazing. I can't imagine what the Eastern Region scores would have been on a field that size. I would love to see you at GMU or some other equivalent facility so the Northern region kids get a similar experience, however vabaseballfan has very valid points.

I definitely understand VABaseballFan's points and agree with them...I personally don't really care if the field is centrally located...Using an example, Stone Bridge will likely never host as a neutral site even though many in Fairfax would consider it easier to get to than South County...

As far as Woodson's center field, I thought it was a little longer than that, but it is a 25' or 30' fence, so not quite as easy as it sounds. As far as ODU's field, going back to my previous example, Stone Bridge has either 390 or 395 in center - don't remember which...

GMU is definitely the best solution...but getting back to VABaseballFan's points, it probably will never happen...I think one point missed is that I expect many of these schools count on the additional revenue from concessions, etc.

I got a good laugh about your comment on GMU's "no locals" strategy, Swampie. Seems like you're on to something.

As far as Woodson's fence in center field, 300' is obviously very short, even with a high fence. A lot of home runs and doubles that hit the fence on that field that would be flyouts on almost all other local HS fields. AS a result, I've always looked at Woodson players' stats with a bit of a wary eye.

Good point as well on a field needing good sight lines along both sides of the field in order to host a Regional or State game. IMO, Madison is a poor choice as a host field because there is effectively nothing on the 1st base/RF side for fans to sit or stand and see the game. That means everybody has to crowd along the 3B/LF side of the field, meaning fans from different teams have to mingle a little more than they are comfortable with doing.

A true neutral site, centrally located within Fairfax County might be something like Waters Field in Vienna.

Had never been to Woodson before the LB OK game but I have to agree with the previous posts. I was shocked at the center field fence and trying to watch the game was really tough. I honestly felt like I was trying to watch some of the top high schoolers play on a local little league field. It really detracted from the game IMHO.

I know that the folks at Woodson won't like to hear that but how the heck do you place Towns, Willis, Carroll etc. on a field with a 300' center field fence and NOT expect the 25 runs that we saw? Crazy...

Final scores from tonight's Northern Region Semifinals:

Lake Braddock 2, Stonebridge 0

South County 10, Madison 0

Is there anyone that is truly surprised that two Patriot district teams will be vying for the Championship of this region?

In a word...no

It is a surprise, though, that two Liberty district teams were their opponents...

Who pitched last night....and who's left to pitch. I assume LB used Towns, SC used Frazier??

I would assume Rogers/Church vs Beal. Towns went all seven last night.

quote:

Originally posted by NOVABBall13:
Had never been to Woodson before the LB OK game but I have to agree with the previous posts. I was shocked at the center field fence and trying to watch the game was really tough. I honestly felt like I was trying to watch some of the top high schoolers play on a local little league field. It really detracted from the game IMHO.

I know that the folks at Woodson won't like to hear that but how the heck do you place Towns, Willis, Carroll etc. on a field with a 300' center field fence and NOT expect the 25 runs that we saw? Crazy...

I went to Woodson HS many (many) years ago. Had no idea the OF was so shallow! Is there room to push the fence back?

quote:

Originally posted by Batty67:

I went to Woodson HS many (many) years ago. Had no idea the OF was so shallow! Is there room to push the fence back?

I think there's about 10-20' to work with back there, but who has the funding to cover the costs associated with the leveling, soil, drainage, sodding, fencing, etc.? And looking at Google Maps, 20' brings you to the edge of the turn on the track (as in track 'n field). One bad step on the turn, and you're playing CF.

quote:

Originally posted by NOVABBall13:
Had never been to Woodson before the LB OK game but I have to agree with the previous posts. I was shocked at the center field fence and trying to watch the game was really tough. I honestly felt like I was trying to watch some of the top high schoolers play on a local little league field. It really detracted from the game IMHO.

I know that the folks at Woodson won't like to hear that but how the heck do you place Towns, Willis, Carroll etc. on a field with a 300' center field fence and NOT expect the 25 runs that we saw? Crazy...

Woodson is a dreadful place to try and watch a game--maybe the worst. Field is AWFUL, vision for fans is even worse.

It's not the best for fans... so which field would be best, and why did the NR pick Woodson?

The Stone Bridge / Lake Braddock game was a good one. Towns pitched a complete game. Putnick - broken left pinky and all pitched for Stone Bridge with West coming in late.

As far as fields, I'd qualify both Woodson and Madison as lousy layouts for fans...Robinson is only marginally better. As a photographer, I do love the day games and wish some of these fields would improve their lighting - Madison is one of the worst!

I do like the idea of Waters...

quote:

Originally posted by Jess1:
It's not the best for fans... so which field would be best, and why did the NR pick Woodson?

I agree about Woodson field's appeal to anybody but the Cavaliers parents and fans. As far as being 'picked' to host 2nd round, quarters, semis and finals, a little bird told me that NR ADs meet before/during the season and submit bids to pick and host any of the post season rounds. There might be some fees involved.

The Woodson field was reconfigured two or three years ago. They put in Bermuda grass and moved the fences. While the fences are short, they are tall. You get some cheap pop fly home runs with the setup, but you also get some hard hit line drives that would be home runs other places stopped by the high fence. I've watched games there for five years and havent found a spot to view the whole field and be close to the action

Chantilly field is very fan friendly. They can sit very close to the action. Not as much formal seating. They could add another section of bleachers or two for tournament games. The only problem here is the sun coming from right field into the batter's eyes when sun is going down (for about an hour). Lighting (only a couple of years old), is very good.

Its out of the way but you would be hard pressed to find a nicer field than Fireman's Field in Purcellville. Not sure that I have ever heard anything negative about the field.

Only bad piece is that it is a bit of a commute for Fairfax based folks but that sure would take care of any "home field" advantage. LOL

I agree NOVABBall...Fireman's is probably one of the best fields in NOVA. I've seen several games there and other than the drive, I can't think of any negatives to using that field...But I know most of the Fairfax schools complain about coming to Stone Bridge, so I'm sure the extra drive past there would kill any chance of using it. Maybe Northwest Region?

I wasn't wild about Chantilly's setup, but definitely better than some...only been to a game or two there though, so probably not the best judge...

As a player, I'm not a big fan of Chantilly because from around 5:30 until sundown, the sun is directly in hitters' eyes.