HARRISONBURG, Va. (6/1/05) -- The 2005 Valley Baseball League season begins this Friday June 3. Opening night will feature Haymarket, formally Loudoun, hosting Woodstock, New Market visiting Staunton, Covington traveling to Front Royal, Luray at Waynesboro, and defending champion Winchester playing host to Harrisonburg.  All games are slated to begin at 7:30 p.m.

Changes have also been made to the schedule. On Sunday, June 5, Covington will travel to Haymarket to play a doubleheader.  The first game will begin at 1:30 p.m. and the second is slated for 6 p.m., and each game will scheduled for seven innings.  Sunday June 19, Haymarket will visit Covington for a doubleheader, with the same start times and scheduled game length.  By playing the doubleheaders, the games that were scheduled for Tuesday, June 14 (Haymarket at Covington), and Saturday, July 9 (Covington at Haymarket) will be erased from the calendar.

With the NCAA Division I regional championship beginning on June 3 as well, the Valley Baseball League is well represented with 60 players who are expected to report to the 10 VBL teams once their institutions’ post-season play comes to an end.

Both Covington and Staunton are expecting a league-high-11 players from a variety of schools that will be competing in the regional championships.  Of the schools competing in the regional championship this weekend, the University of Miami will be sending the most athletes to the valley, with nine Hurricanes expected to play this summer.