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We continue our Region previews with a look at 3a Regions C and D. Regions C and D used to make the 3A West under the previous alignment. The two Regions are particularly stacked, featuring the last two 3A State Champions, Turner Ashby in 2017 and Rustburg in 2016. Rustburg also made another State Tournament trip in 2015, paired with a Monticello team that went on a Cinderella run to the West Region title that year. The elephant in the Region the last few years has been Abingdon, who has elite talent and has missed out on a State Tournament berth each of the last two years, with last year's miss having a lot to do with the draw of facing Turner Ashby in the Region semifinal instead of the Championship.

Fortunately, the split of the 3A West into two Regions will prevent that in the future. Turner Ashby and the schools in the Charlottesville-Harrisonburg area will form Region C. Abingdon and the other schools farther southwest down the I-81 corridor will now form Region D. This is one of the examples where VHSL's goal during this realignment of shortening Region Tournament travel was very clearly met.

Region C will have an eight team Region tournament going forward. The Valley District sends three teams and the Jefferson and Seminole District send two each to the Region. The eighth team is an at-large team from any of the Districts, likely determined by power points. Region D is an eight team Region with teams spread out over multiple Districts. A power point system will be used to seed an eight-team Region tournament.

 

Top 10 Prospects in the Region C

Name	School	Class	Position	Commitment
Haydon Almond	Brookville	2018	LHP
Derek Domecq	Western Albemarle	2018	LHP/OF	Radford
Zach Eppard	Fort Defiance	2018	RHP
Waring Garber	Turner Ashby	2018	RHP
Eli Lam	Spotswood	2019	SS/RHP
Austin Martin	Rustburg	2018	RHP
Jack Masloff	Western Albemarle	2019	LHP
Tanner Moyers	Turner Ashby	2018	2B	Ferrum
Daniel Ouderkirk	Spotswood	2018	RHP	West Virginia
Josh Whelan	Fort Defiance	2018	RHP	WV Tech (Basketball)

 

2018 Region C

Jefferson	Seminole	Valley
Fluvanna County	Brookville	Broadway
Monticello	Heritage (Lynchburg)	Fort Defiance
Western Albemarle	Liberty (Bedford)	Rockbridge County
	Rustburg	Spotswood
		Turner Ashby
		Waynesboro

*Italicized teams played in a 2017 3a Region tournament

Top 10 Prospects in the Region D

Name	School	Class	Position	Commitment
Tanner Barrs	Abingdon	2019	1B	Radford
Aidan Brown	Staunton River	2021	OF
Kevin Christy	Abingdon	2018	3B	East Tennessee State
Thomas Francisco	Abingdon	2018	1B	East Carolina
Cade Hungate	Abingdon	2018	SS/RHP	Florida State
Tyler Jarrett	Tunstall	2018	RHP	Cornell
Sam McLaughlin	Northside	2018	RHP
Cameron Rigney	Tunstall	2018	OF
Micah Smith	Northside	2018	RHP	Norfolk State
Will Stout	Christiansburg	2018	RHP

 

2018 Region D

Abingdon	Alleghany
Cave Spring	Christiansburg
Hidden Valley	Lord Botetourt
Magna Vista	Northside
Patrick County	Staunton River
Tunstall

*Italicized teams played in a 2017 3a Region tournament

 

Teams to Watch Regions C and D

Abingdon
The Falcons came up one game short of a State Tournament bid in 2017 as they had the misfortune of facing Turner Ashby in the Region Semifinals. Abingdon lost a one-run game and TA went on to win the State Championship. The Falcons will lose Will Harless (Radford) to graduation, but aside from that bring back the core of their roster. The lineup will be stacked with seniors Cade Hungate (Florida State) and Thomas Francisco (East Carolina) back for one more run at a title. Also in what should be an explosive offense this spring will be senior Kevin Christy (East Tennessee State) and junior Tanner Barrs (Radford). Abingdon is easily the most talented team on paper in Region D and is the early favorite to win the 2018 3A State Championship.

Brookville
The Bees reached the 3A West Region tournament in 2017 after capturing the Conference 30 championship. The Bees came into the Conference tournament as the three seed and then their bats exploded for 24 runs in two games as they won their semifinal and Conference Championship game in the same day. During the first of those games Brookville eliminated defending State Champ Rustburg. The Bees ended up on the opposite side of the Region bracket as Abingdon and Turner Ashby and were ultimately able to reach the State Tournament before Riverside ended their season. Brookville has senior lefty Haydon Almond back in 2018 as they appear poised to reach the Region tournament again out of the Seminole District.

Fort Defiance
The Indians missed the 3A West Region tournament in 2017 but should challenge for one of the Valley District's three Region bids in 2018 or for the Wild Card. Fort Defiance will be solid on the mound, with senior righthanders Josh Whelan (WV Tech) and Zach Eppard forming a one-two punch that will give them a shot in every game they start.

Northside
The Vikings won Conference 31 reached the 3A West Region tournament in 2017 and fell in the quarterfinals in a tight game to Cave Spring. The Vikings should be among the favorites to come out of Region D in 2018 as they bring back All-State senior Evan Parks and senior righty Sam McLaughlin. Senior righty Micah Smith (Norfolk State) should see an increased role and that trio of seniors has the potential to give the Vikings one of the deepest rotations in 3A. Also back is senior Brandon Golden, who had a strong two-way season in 2017 and should add even more depth to the rotation as well as a key bat in Northside's lineup.

Spotswood
The Trailblazers narrowly missed the 2017 Region tournament and then got smashed by graduation, losing three college bound seniors, including shortstop Cam Irvine (Virginia Tech) and lefthanders Nathan Rebich (King) and Adam Dofflemeyer (King). Spotswood should compete again in 2018 for a Region bid and has senior righty Daniel Ouderkirk (West Virginia) and junior two-way contributor Eli Lam to build around. Ouderkirk will be in the running for the top arm in the Valley District and in Region C.

Turner Ashby
The defending 3A State Champions lost arguably their most important player to graduation with the departure of ace Justin Showalter (James Madison). Also gone is catcher Cody Warner (VMI). The Knights will look to retool and defend their State Championship as they turn to senior Waring Garber as the top arm. Garber's bat and fellow senior Tanner Moyers (Ferrum) should provide a good core to the lineup for TA.

Western Albemarle
The Warriors reached the 3A West Region in 2017 and brings back senior lefty Derek Domecq (Radford), who has been an ace for multiple seasons and provides a powerful bat as well. Junior lefty Jack Masloff could pair with Domecq to give the Warriors a very good one-two punch on the mound in 2018.