April 19 - Diamond Elite Blue won the 14U bracket and MVP Terps Blue claimed the 13U bracket at the 10th annual Cougar Clash, a 34-team tournament held in Fairfax County this past weekend.
Diamond Elite won all seven of its games over the three-day event, going 4-0 in pool play on Friday and Saturday to claim the No. 2 seed. It then beat the No. 7 seed Burke Bulldogs, 9-1, in the quarterfinals, No. 6 seed Cadets Binns, 11-8, in the semifinals, and the No. 1 seed MVP Terps Blue in the championship game, 7-1, on Sunday evening at Oakton High School.
The MVP Terps Blue 13U team also ran the table, winning each of its four pool play games to claim the No. 1 seed in Sunday’s elimination play. The Terps then defeated the No. 8 seed Virginia Cannons, 5-2, in the quarterfinals, No. 4 seed Diamond Elite, 12-1, in the semifinals, and the No. 2 seed Burke Bulldogs Blue, 12-4, in the championship game at Oakton on Sunday afternoon.
The tournament has grown from 20 teams in 2007, and this year was held at eight fields - Oakton, Madison, South Lakes and Marshall high schools, and at Nottoway Park in Vienna, and Stratton Woods Park, Alabama Drive Park and Dulles Corner Field in Herndon. The event serves as a fundraiser for Oakton’s program.
“Some other programs probably do better selling Christmas trees, raking leaves, or just knocking door-to-door,” Good said. “However, [Oakton coach Justin] Janis and all the volunteers take pride in providing this tournament as a community service function in the promotion of Northern Virginia youth baseball. Every year, we see the future of high school baseball roll through our tournament, and it’s exciting to see.”
This year’s event featured 66 games held in just over 48 hours.
“This tournament would not be successful without a great volunteer staff,” said the tournament’s director, Nick Good. “They are simply the best, with some 40 sets of baseball parents and players all working together.”
Photos courtesy of the Cougar Clash tournament
