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The City of Bowie will once again be the center of attention for summer baseball as the community gets ready to hold the 16th annual Baseball Players Association of Maryland Bowie Fourth of July Blast this weekend.
Thirty teams from across Maryland will begin play on Friday in three different age brackets at four different locations. The U-19 age bracket plays games at Black Sox Park, Jericho Park, Bowie High School and Prince George's Sports Park in Mitchellville. The 11-12 and 9-10 age brackets play all of their games at Black Sox Park.
"There is going to be a lot of good baseball being played here," said Chuck Ford, the tournament director and coach of the Bowie Post 66 American Legion team, which is playing in the U-19 bracket. "There are a lot of good teams from around the state that are playing in this year's tournament."
The U-19 division includes 15 teams and begins play Friday with four games at four different parks. Bowie faces the Beltsville Heat at 1 p.m. and the Yankee Rebels at 5:45 p.m. Both games are at Bowie High School. Bowie plays two more games at Bowie High on Saturday starting at 9 a.m. against the Silver Spring Zephyrs and at 11:15 a.m. against the Western Howard Renegades.
Games continue all day Saturday, with the quarterfinals, semifinals and championship all being played Sunday. The top six teams make the playoffs with the top two seeds earning a bye. The championship game is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at Bowie High School.
The 11-12 age bracket contains five teams and follows the same format as the U-19 division, with games Friday and Saturday and the semifinals and championship set for Sunday. The 9-10 age bracket consists of 10 teams and is broken into two pools. The top two teams in each pool advance to the semifinals, with the championship game scheduled for noon on Sunday.
Ford said with the games being played at different sites and times, one person alone couldn't run this tournament.
"I get a lot of help from the city of Bowie to get the fields ready and they do a lot of other little things to help out," he said. "I would never be able to make this on my own. We just find a way to make this work every year."
Bowie fourth of july blast
Where: Bowie High School, Jericho Park, Black Sox Park and Prince George's
Sports Park.
When: Games Friday and Saturday with the championships held on Sunday.
Who: U-19, 11-12 and 9-10 age brackets.
For complete schedule visit
www.bpamaryland.com
E-mail Joshua Hudson at jhudson@gazette.net.
