Elkins and the immediate area will become home to 30 baseball teams from five different states when the 22nd Annual Hillbilly Hardball Classic Tournament gets under way on Thursday.
The first pitch of the tourney will be thrown at 11:30 a.m. on opening day, and action will conclude with Sunday's championship game at 5:30 p.m.
"We're hoping for a good tournament this year," Elkins Post 29 General Manager and Tournament Director Chris George said. "We have some new teams this year and it looks like we're going to have some good weather, so I'm excited."
Mother Nature has hampered the tourney and rained out the event the last two years.
The last team to wear the Hardball crown was State College (Pa.) in 2009.
The tourney will be broken down into five divisions and games will be played at seven different baseball fields including Robin Harvey Memorial Field, Elkins High School, Philip Barbour, Alderson-Broaddus, Buckhannon-Upshur, Lewis County and Bridgeport High School.
Fact Box
If you go
What:?Hillbilly Hardball Tournament
Where: Elkins, Philippi, Buckhannon, Weston and Bridgeport
When: Thursday through Sunday
Teams: 30
Title Game: Sunday at 5:30 p.m.
Last Champion: State College, Pennsylvania (2009)
"I want to thank Alderson-Broaddus for stepping up late and helping out," George said. "I also want to thank everyone who will be working at the fields. I couldn't do it without them.
"I also want to thank everyone who has helped get this tournament ready, especially the Randolph County Commission."
West Virginia, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio will be represented in the tourney.
Elkins, Berkeley County, Morgantown, Weirton, Prospect Ohio, Bridgeport Junior Legion, Morgantown Junior Legion, South Charleston, Jefferson Ohio, Bellefonte (Pa.), French Creek Valley (Pa.), Potomac Valley, Grantsville (Md.), Wheeling, Buckhannon, Beckley, Fairmont, Moundsville, Cumberland (Md.), Pickerington Ohio, Bridgeport, Somerset (Pa.), Clarksburg, State College (Pa.) and St. Marys are all returning teams to the annual tournament.
New teams this year include Buffalo N.Y., Colombia (Md.), Charleston West Virginia Power, Sissonville Junior Legion and Mount Vernon Ohio.
"There's a lot of new teams this year," George said. "The field is wide open with a lot of good teams from West Virginia and from out of state."
