Rockbridge Prepares for Inaugural Opener

LEXINGTON, Va. - With the opening of the 2009 Valley League season one week away, the league's newest team unveiled its uniforms recently.

The Rockbridge Rapids, which will play at Cap'n Dick Smith Field on the campus of Washington & Lee University, are the newest franchise in the 12-team wood-bat summer collegiate baseball league.

The Rapids will play their inaugural season in the four-team South Division along with the Covington Lumberjacks, the Staunton Braves and the Waynesboro Generals.

This is also the first season of a three-division format in the league. Prior to the last expansion, in 2007 with Fauquier, the league played in two divisions. When the Gators joined in '07, the league played in one 11-team division before switching back to two divisions in 2008.

With the three-division format this summer, divisional winners and runners-up, along with the two teams with the best record of the remaining six teams, will make the playoffs.

Rockbridge also recently unveiled its home and away uniforms and are pictured below.

For more information on the squad, coached by Eastern Mennonite University's Mark Mace, please click here.

The Valley League is an NCAA-sanctioned wood-bat summer league in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and is heading to its 86th season of competition this summer. Play begins Friday, June 5 with a full slate of six contests.