At total of 62 high school senior baseball players from the class of 2020 have signed up to compete. Players are from the area served by the Salem-Roanoke Baseball Hall of Fame and 20 schools will be represented by one or more players.
The four teams were divided into two teams with 15 players and two with 16 players. Team 1 will play Team 2 at 3 pm, and upon conclusion all 62 players and their parents or escorts will be introduced on the field and a photo of the player will be on the big video screen in rightfield. Then Team 3 will play Team 4 in the second game. Both games are scheduled for nine innings to give all participants ample playing time.
Both Botetourt County teams will be included on Team 1, with five from James River and three from Lord Botetourt. Players from River are Garrett Aaron, Chase Oberg, Kevin Austin, Dyllan McAllister and Hunter Wilson. Lord Botetourt players who have signed up are Brae Farrell, Cody Camper and Luke Hale.
Team 1 also has three from Franklin County, three from Alleghany and one from Patrick Henry. The team has seven pitchers and two catchers.
William Byrd will have six players on Team 2. Also on that roster will be five from Staunton River, two from Eastern Montgomery, two from Radford and one from Cave Spring. Team 2 has seven pitchers and one catcher.
Team 3 will have six players from Hidden Valley and four from Blacksburg High. Christiansburg and North Cross will have two each and William Fleming will have one.
Team 4 will consist of nine players from Salem, two from Glenvar, three from Northside and one each from Auburn and Craig County. The team has eight pitchers and one catcher.
The teams will have shirts with their numbers on the back and each team will be a different color. The Sox have designed a unique logo for the front of the shirts.
Coaches for each team will come from the schools represented by the players.
Also, the venue for the high school “Senior Games” for girls won’t be at Lord Botetourt High School, as was originally announced. Those games are scheduled for July 20 and 21 and are being organized by William Byrd High assistant coach Kassie Brammer. The James I. Moyer Complex in Salem is a site Brammer was looking at but nothing official has been announced and the City of Salem has not given the okay to move the games there.
“I thought we had Botetourt locked down but I might have jumped the gun,” said Brammer. “With the number of people expected to attend the Botetourt High field is so small they were nervous about being able to follow (social distancing) the guidelines. Finding a place to play has been the toughest part of this.”
Brammer reports that 36 girls have signed up to play through last week. Plans are to play two games on July 20 and two games on July 21.
