State teams' tourney schedules, 2B
rickryan@wvgazette.com
For Kanawha Valley baseball teams, all roads will lead to MyrtleBeach next week.
Nine area teams and 14 West Virginia schools will be competingMonday through Saturday in the 44-team Mingo Bay Baseball Classic inthe greater Myrtle Beach, S.C., area.
All teams are guaranteed at least four games (weather permitting)and could play as many as six depending on how far they advance inthe single-elimination portion of the event.
Kanawha Valley schools scheduled to appear in the tournament areBuffalo, Capital, Charleston Catholic, George Washington, Nitro,Sissonville, South Charleston, St. Albans and Winfield. Other stateschools in the field are Logan, Jefferson, Martinsburg, Morgantownand University.
Teams will be placed in pools of four or six teams for theirfirst three games Monday through Wednesday, then will be seeded forthe championship brackets that begin Thursday. Seeds will bedetermined primarily by won-lost records and runs allowed.
Games are scheduled to start as early as 10 a.m. and as late as 7p.m.
Nitro may get a head start on its trip Saturday, as it has a 1p.m. game scheduled at Princeton. Some coaches and players maycontinue to South Carolina after that game.
The Wildcats are scheduled to play Daniel Boone at 4:30 p.m.Monday at Conway, S.C. Other games in the Mingo Bay Classic are setfor the nearby towns of Aynor, Carolina Forest, Georgetown, Loris,Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, Socastee, St. James and Waccamaw.
On Tuesday, Nitro (1-0) meets one of South Carolina's top teams,Conway, which is ranked No. 3 in 4-A.
Nitro coach Steve Pritchard, whose team has played only once sofar this season, realizes the challenge of the trip, going againstsouthern teams that have played many more games so far.
'We've got one game in,' Pritchard said, 'and teams down thereare 12-to-15 games deep into their seasons. It's going to be alearning experience. They've found their tempo and went through theearly season blues, which is what we're starting to do.
'We like to go down there because we can learn, and the games goa little faster because they play on Bermuda grass.'
To contact assistant sports editor Rick Ryan, use e-mail or call348-5175.
