With over 15 years of Babe Ruth affiliation and having hosted numerous district, state and regional championship tournaments, Monroe Township has been chosen as the host for the 2009 Cal Ripken 10-year-old Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship.

The tournament will be held at James Monroe Park from July 29-Aug. 5. Ten state champions representing Maryland, Delaware, Southeastern Pennsylvania, Northwestern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey, Northern New Jersey, Metro New York, Eastern New York and Western New York. Host team the Dirty Birds from Monroe will compete for an opportunity to represent the Mid-Atlantic Region in Colorado at the Cal Ripken Little League World Series. The games will be telecasted live on www.blslive.com.

This will be the third trip to the Mid-Atlantic Tournament for two-time defending Northern New Jersey State Champion Dirty Birds, one of the most successful Little League teams in Monroe history. The team has an overall record of 78-8 over the past two seasons, including two district and two state titles. It returned all 13 players from last year's team and has been working hard during the off-season to prepare and improve.

Hosting the Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship Tournament is no small undertaking. Planning for this event started in November and will continue throughout opening and closing ceremonies. More than 150 participating players and their extended families will be visiting the community for a week. The host hotel and restaurant, Crown Plaza and Yogis, respectively, have been selected and are preparing accordingly.

The team thanked the Monroe Township Baseball Association and the Parks and Recreation Department for their support. Volunteers will be canvassing our community to give local businesses the opportunity to advertise in support of the team and the tournament. To volunteer or become a sponsor, email dirtybirdsbaseball@comcast.net.General information, updates and game schedules will be posted on the MTBA website, monroebaseball. com.