AAU Baseball Announces 2010 Tournament Schedule
November 20th, 2009
The National Championship tournaments for 9U (60’ Closed Base), 10U, 11U, 12U, and 13U will be held at the incomparable Disney’s Wide World of Sports® in Orlando, Florida.
Ed Skovron, National Chair for AAU Baseball said, “Having our National events for these age levels at Disney allows families to combine a superior baseball experience with their family vacation. There is something for everyone.”
The 9U (60’ Closed Base) and 12U Championships will take place June 21-26. One unique aspect of the 12U is that the winner of the tournament will go on to represent AAU in the New Era Youth Baseball Tournament. This is the “Champion of Champions” event. One team from each national youth organization – AAU, AABC, Babe Ruth League, Dixie, NABF, PONY, SuperSeries, and USSSA – will battle it out to claim rights to a true national crown. The team that wins the AAU 12U National Championship will receive travel to, and lodging at, the New Era Tournament in Memphis, Tennessee.
The 10U (65’ Open Base), 11U, and 13U AAU National Championships will take place June 26 – July 1. As with the 12U, the 10U champion will represent AAU in the New Era tournament in Memphis, with their air travel and lodging also paid. In 2009, AAU proved to have the best 10U team in the country out of all the national programs: the North Texas Bulldogs.
Heading south from Orlando about two hours in Sarasota, Florida on the coast will be the AAU 14U National Championships. This tournament is scheduled for July 24-30, and will be held at the spring training site for the Baltimore Orioles. The Nationals at Sarasota are renowned for the hospitality of the host.
Then up the coast about an hour and a half from Orlando is Cocoa Beach/Viera, Florida where the AAU Baseball 15U, 16U, and 18/19U Championships will be held July 25 – 30. Viera is the home of spring training for the Washington Nationals. It would be a difficult task to locate finer fields for a National Championship to be played on.
Ed Skovron discussed a twist in this year’s format. “For the Championships at all age levels, AAU will be changing to a 7-game guarantee for 2010, and the tournament entry fee is only $695. Teams will be placed in pools of four for the first round of three pool-play games. This round will allow us group the teams into similar skill levels. First- and second-place in each pool will advance to the Diamond bracket. Third- and fourth-place in each pool will earn a berth in the Gold bracket. Teams will again be placed in pools of four for their bracket. The second round of pool play will determine their seeding in their bracket for the single-elimination round. We’ve been receiving amazing feedback from our teams about this new format.”
For more information about AAU Baseball National Championships, visit www.aaubaseball.org > Events > National Events > National Championships, or contact AAU Baseball Senior Sports Manager, Debra Horn, via email at debra@aausports.org or by phone at 407.828.3459.
