From every corner of the commonwealth, hundreds of 13- and 14-year-old ballplayers are trekking to Sterling to take part in the 2010 Virginia Junior League State Baseball Tournament, beginning July 23.

Sixteen teams will play 31 seven-inning games on three fields over five days, all to determine which one team will become the champion of Virginia.

A few players don’t have far to go. Those would be the 13 members of the District 16 representative from Ashburn-based Dulles Little League, or DLL.

“We want to represent the DLL and give it the best shot we can,” said Alvaro Bernuy, manager of the Dulles Little League entry into the junior-level tourney. “We need to go out and execute.”

The local boys are led on the mound by pitchers Michael Farabaugh and Andrew Whipple, and at the plate by Pete Quinn, Michael Kopecky and Kevin Kost.

This is the first season in which the DLL has fielded a junior-level league, with four teams playing their regular season on the standard 90-foot diamond at Ashburn’s Edgar Tillet Field.

The DLL assumed its spot in the state tourney by virtue of being the sole junior program in District 16.

The local kids will begin their tournament experience with a game Friday against Woodbridge at Park View High School. The following day they face Culpeper at Foltz Field, then finish pool play Sunday with a contest against Mechanicsville back at Park View.

The host

Sterling-based Lower Loudoun Little League, or LLLL will host the Junior League state tournament for the first time since 2001.

Tim Lieb, commissioner of the LLLL’s junior division, says the tournament holds myriad benefits for both local players and local businesses.

“The biggest benefit is to Sterling and Loudoun County as we will have 16 teams staying in hotels and dining out in our local restaurants,” Lieb stated.

“If we put on a good show hopefully we will be rewarded with other Little League tournaments in the near future.”

The format

Other squads competing for the state’s Junior League championship hail from as near as Fairfax and Alexandria, and as far as Danville and Bristol.

Four pools of four teams apiece will match up over the event’s first three days. Each pool’s two top records emerge to seed an eight-team single-elimination tournament.

The winner will represent Virginia in the eight-state Southeastern Region tourney in Greenville, S.C., the final challenge before the Junior League World Series in Taylor, Mich.

Fans can follow the state tournament’s results on-line at eteamz.com/llbaseball.

Crowning a state champ

What: Virginia Junior League State Baseball Tournament
When: July 23-27
Where: Sterling
Player ages: 13-14
Host: Lower Loudoun Little League
Fields: Foltz Field; Park View High School; Claude Moore Park
Teams: 16
Local team: Dulles Little League