Never Say Die Attitude Propels NFC All Stars To Florida Tournament

HERNDON, VA — Northern Fairfax County Babe Ruth 14 U All Stars, a youth baseball team made up of players from Reston, Herndon and Chantilly, were the first-runners up in the Virginia State Championship. This qualified them to represent Virginia next week's Southeast Region Tournament in Tallahassee, Florida.

"It's probably been at least 10 years since we've had a team that's advanced past the state level," League President Dave Singmaster told Patch on Thursday. "We typically put teams in the state tournament every year, but we have not had the opportunity to advance."

The Greater Manassas Babe Ruth League hosted the 2022 state tournament last week, drawing eight teams from around Virginia.

Although the NFC 14 U All Stars lost 5-3 in the first round to a team from Lunenburg, they were able to continue because it was a double-elimination tournament. That meant they needed to win all their remaining games.

"A couple of games they were down as many as three or four or five runs and they battled back," Singmaster said. "Their determination and never say die attitude is really what's been their hallmark to get them to this point."

After defeating Deep Creek by forfeiture, the North Fairfax All Stars went on to beat Augusta by 23-2 and Lunenburg by 10-6. Then, an 8-7 victory over Arlington put them in Monday's championship game against host Manassas.

Ultimately, the Manassas team prevailed by a score of 10-0, but, thanks to new league rules, both the tournament's champion and first runner up qualified for next week's Southeast Region Tournament.

"I just found out that Manassas is not actually sending their team to Florida, so we're actually the sole representatives from the state of Virginia now for the 14-year-olds," Singmaster said.

Although the schedule and brackets for the Southeast Regional Tournament haven't been posted yet, teams have to be in Florida by Tuesday.

"There's welcoming ceremonies, there's a dinner for all the teams, and there's opening ceremonies on the 27th," Singmaster said. "They haven't posted the format yet, if it's double elimination or a pool play."

The winner of next week's tournament will qualify to play in August's Babe Ruth World Series in North Dakota.

But, there's still a lot to do before anyone can think about that. The NFC Babe Ruth 14 U All Stars will be practicing tonight and families are making their final travel preparations for Florida. The league doesn't have the budget to send players to the tournament, so it's up to the individual families to cover each player's travel expenses.