Youth Sports - Baseball: NOVA Legends Win St. Patrick's Day Tournament in D.C.

(March 29, 2012) - The NOVA Legends, a 12U tournament team made up of baseball players from the Ashburn, Sterling, and Reston areas, took home first place in the Inaugural St. Patrick's Day Tournament in Washington, DC on March 18.


The Legends went 3-0-1 in their first tournament as a team, allowing only 9 runs in the four games.

The Legends faced a talented Annandale Angels squad in the first game, and needed to push across two runs in the last inning to earn a hard-fought 3-3 tie. Ryan Alcorn and Justin Taylor of Reston held the Angels to one run over the last three innings to keep the game close, making the last inning heroics possible.

In the second game, Ashburn residents Connor Gorey and Alex Bjornsen took care of the pitching, combining on a two hitter. The batting highlight of the game came in the form of a 315-foot home run by 12-year-old Justin Robles of Sterling as the Legends won by a score of 7-2.

For their next game, the Legends were matched up against their hosts, the DC Dynasty. The Legends jumped out to an early lead never looked back, winning 7-3. Joe Wright of Reston and Gorey shared the mound duties.

In the Championship game, the Legends once again found themselves matched up against the DC Dynasty, and once again found themselves trailing as they entered the last inning. Robles started on the mound, and struck out 10 while not giving up a hit. Unfortunately, he also was wild on the mound, and the Legends found themselves training 2-1 with only three outs left. Alcorn reached on an error to lead off the inning, and scored on a wild pitch to tie the game with two outs. Aidan Koferl came up to the plate and then crushed a line drive that found a gap and reached the fences some 350 feet away. He was mobbed by his teammates as he scored with the winning run.

For winning the championship, the Legends have been invited to attend a future Washington Nationals game.

Roster
Connor Gorey
Justin Robles
Cortland Lawson
Ryan Alcorn
Tanner Brocke
Shane Lashlee
Alex Bjornsen
Joe Wright
Aidan Koferl
Justin Taylor
Jason DiLoreta