Vienna Babe Ruth Teams Head to State Tourney

When the Babe Ruth League's 15-U All-Stars kick off their state tournament at Waters Field on Thursday, the Vienna team will be among the 10 teams vying for the championship title.

The winner of the state tournament earns a berth in the Southeast Regionals to be hosted in Sarasota, Fla., starting July 29.

The Vienna all-stars are made up of players from Oakton, Vienna, Marshall, and Paul VI Catholic high schools and Flint Hill School. Most of the squad were part of last year's 14-U team that came in second in the 2010 state tournament and represented Virginia in the Southeast Regional tournament in Alabama last year.

The 15-U team won the Babe Ruth League 13th District championship Monday to qualify for the state tournament.

They won in dominant fashion, defeating Arlington 15-3. Tommy Doyle allowed only one hit and struck out five in three innings. John Somers, Ryan Power and Riley Cummins also pitched.

Somers hit a home run, and Briam Boehm was 3 for 3, including a triple, and scored three runs.

Vienna started its district title run Friday with a 12-1 victory against the McLean/Great Falls team.

On Sunday, Vienna also defeated Arlington 9-0. C.J. Graves pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing only one hit and no run. Alec Dolton closed the game (1 1/3 no hit no run). Kalib Ashcraft hit a three-run homer, Patrick Eason notched three hits, and Chris Kim notched two.

On the mound, Nick Brady allowed four hits and struck out five batters. Offensively, Ashcraft got three hits and stole five bases. Cummins had two hits, two RBI. Vienna also had hits from Bruce Briglia, Kim (2 RBI), Somers (1 RBI) and Andrew Di Francisco (1 RBI).

Vienna will also be sending its 13-U and 14-U teams to their respective state tournaments after both also won their district titles. The 13-U team will play the tournament in Williamsburg and the 14-U team will play in Summit, W. Va., about 20 miles away from Winchester.

If the 14-U team wins, they automatically earn a berth in the Babe Ruth World Series because Virginia is set to host the series.

"Quite frankly, Vienna is a great baseball town. All these kids, from Oakton and Vienna, came out of the Vienna Little League," said Sean Moran, president of the league. "For a while after they finished Little League, they had been jumping out and joining travel leagues, but we've reinvigorated the program in the last couple of years. Added a bit of a travel component to our league, but still keep a focus on competition."

15-U

Eric Alvarez (Madison)
Kalib Ashcraft (Madison)
Brian Boehm (Oakton )
Nicholas Brady (Madison)
Bruce Briglia (Flint Hill)
Riley Cummins (Marshall)
Daniel Delgado (Madison)
Andrew Di Francisco (Madison)
Alec Dolton (Marshall)
Tommy Doyle (Flint Hill)
Patrick Eason (Madison)
CJ Graves (Madison)
Christopher Kim  (Madison)
Ryan Power (Paul VI)
John Somers  (Madison)  

14-U

Thomas Ale
Chris Anzilotti
Bradley Cazenas
Matthew Colwell
Joe Halligan
Jack Maillett
Stephen Nugent
Zack Silverman
Jack Swart
Christian Tailor
Tristan Timblin
Michael Wagner

13-U

John (L.J.) Andrews
Brett Biglia
Alex Cintron
Nick Cintron
Kyle Criscitello
Jordan Ebersole
Jonathan Evers
Nate Grisius
Ben Kerns
Charlie Klein
Campbell Quirk
Ethan Schaefer
Travis Stephens
Trevor Weinstock

Jose Delgado contributed to this report.