GLENDALE, Ariz. – The traditional Perfect Game summer tournament season kicks off over the upcoming Memorial Day holiday weekend with 18u, 16u and 14u events scheduled at three prominent locations that feature major league-caliber playing fields at world-class facilities.

With many states across the country wrapping up their spring high school seasons, the top prep prospects are splitting off to join their respective travel teams and compete in a two-month PG summer season that includes play in PG WWBA National Championships in the north Atlanta suburbs and the PG BCS Finals in and around Fort Myers, Fla..

The PG WWBA East Memorial Day Classic, PG WWBA West Memorial Day Classic and the PG WWBA Memorial Day Classic at LakePoint all run Friday through Monday, May 22-25. Championship games at all nine tournaments will be played on Memorial Day (May 25).

PG WWBA East Memorial Day Classics

The PG WWBA East Memorial Day Classics are the longest running of the three Classics and draw the most teams, although 98 percent of the entrants in the three age-groups are based in Florida. Tournament games will be played at six current or former MLB spring training complexes in the Fort Myers, Fla., area: JetBlue Player Development Complex (current Red Sox), Player Development 5-Plex, Cape Coral Sports Complex, Charlotte County Complex (Rays), CenturyLink Sports Complex (Twins) and Terry Park.

There are 72 teams competing at the 7^th annual 18u PG WWBA Memorial Day Classic and 71 are from the Sunshine State. The lone exception is Ayer, Mass.-based North East Baseball which brings a roster loaded with enough high-level prospects to make it one of the pre-tournament favorites. North East has 24 players that have either signed with or committed to colleges at just about every level.

Florida Burn 2015 Pennant (Sarasota, Fla.) and Elite Squad 17u Prime (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) were named co-champions of the 18u Classic last year after rain forced the cancellation of the championship game. SWFL 17u Gray (Fort Myers, Fla.) and FTB Chandler (Kissimmee, Fla.) were the other semifinalists.

All four of those organizations have multiple teams back in the field this weekend, including pre-tournament favorites FTB Tucci, FTB Mizuno 17u, Elite Squad 17u Prime, Elite Squad 17u Select and Florida Burn 2016 Pennant, the winner of last year’s 16u PG WWBA East Memorial Day Classic championship. Elite Squad 16u Prime was the 16u East MD Classic runner-up in 2014.

Among the many other teams expected to compete for a spot in the final four are the Beyel Brothers Bulldogs (Rockledge, Fla.), South Florida Rampage (Miami) and South Florida Storm Blue (Plantation, Fla.).

Seventy-one of the 72 teams in the 7^th annual 16u PG WWBA East Memorial Day Classic field are from Florida with Just Prospect Baseball Academy out of Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela the lone outlier. Florida Burn 2016 Pennant and Elite Squad 16u Prime finished one-two at last year’s 16u East MD Classic, with Upstate Mavericks 16u (Lyman, S.C.) and South Florida Storm Blue also landing in the final four.

The Florida Burn and Elite Squad organizations are back in full force this weekend, each with six teams in the field; Florida Burn 2017 Pennant, Florida Burn 2018 Pennant, Elite Squad 16u Prime and Elite Squad 16u Slugger are among the early favorites. Palm Beach Select Underclass (Jupiter, Fla.) is also among the more than a dozen teams with a legitimate shot at the title.

This is the inaugural 14u PG WWBA East Memorial Day Classic. Nineteen of the 20 teams in the field are from Florida, including two each from the Florida Burn, Elite Squad and SWFL groups. The only non-Florida team competing is Houston (Texas) Heat 14u.

PG WWBA West Memorial Day Classics

The Camelback Ranch Complex and the Goodyear Ballpark Complex located in the west Phoenix suburbs of Glendale, Ariz., and Goodyear, Ariz., respectively, will act as hosts for the 5^th annual 18u, 16u and 14u PG WWBA West Memorial Day Classics. Camelback is the Cactus League spring training home of the Dodgers and White Sox; Goodyear hosts the Reds and Indians.

Seventeen of the 24 teams in the 18u PG WWBA West Memorial Day Classic call Arizona home with other seven coming from California (five) and Colorado (two). Home-state teams grabbed every spot in last year’s final four, with the AZ Athletics 18u (Peoria) winning the championship and All-Star Baseball Academy 17u (El Mirage) finishing as runner-up. All-Star Baseball Academy 18u (El Mirage) and Canyon Thunder (Phoenix) shared third-place.

Canyon Thunder and Canyon Thunder 17u receive consideration as pre-tournament favorites this weekend, as do prospect-laden AZ T-Rex Baseball Club (Scottsdale, Ariz.) and Dbacks Elite Scout Team (Phoenix). AZ T-Rex BC finished third at last year’s 16u West MD Classic and its roster is actually young enough that it could have played in that tournament again this year, but decided to play up an age-group.

Other early front-runners in the 18u event include BNL (Baseball’s Next Level) out of Tucson and the CBA Cavs (Los Angeles). The two teams out of Colorado Springs – CBS 17u Blue and CBA 17u Team DTB – should represent themselves well as should Ontario, Calif., entrants JG Baseball Black 17u and JG Baseball Black 18u.

Five states – Arizona, California, Colorado, Texas and Utah – are represented in the 16u PG WWBA West Memorial Day Classic 32-team field, including 17 teams from Arizona and 12 from California. The North Coast Reds (Concord, Calif.) are the defending champion and have a team back in the field this year. War Eagle 16u (Mesa, Ariz.) was the 2014 runner-up, and Arizona Baseball Club (Phoenix) and T-Rex Baseball Club (Scottsdale, Ariz.) shared third-place honors.

The team to watch this weekend may very well be Phenom Elite (Moreno Valley, Calif.) which carries basically the same roster as the Team Phenom squads that won a pair of 14u PG WWBA tournaments last year, including the 2014 14u PG WWBA West Memorial Day Classic.

Among the many other contenders for this year’s title are four other California entrants – Chico Aces 15u (Chico), ABD Bulldogs 2018 (Norco), All-Star Baseball Academy 2017 (El Mirage) and the North Coast Reds (Concord), along with Arizona challengers Warriors Baseball Academy 2017 and WBA 2018 (both Glendale) and the Tucson Champs (Tucson).

Teams from Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Utah comprise the 24-team field for the 14u PG WWBA West Memorial Day Classic. Team Phenom captured the 2014 crown, Warriors Baseball Academy 2018 was the runner-up, and the Stetson Hills Stealth (Phoenix) and the Desert Cats (Peoria, Ariz.) also advanced to the semifinals.

PG WWBA Memorial Day Classics at LakePoint

Perfect Game Park South at LakePoint in Emerson, Ga., will serve as the host site for the inaugural 18u, 16u and 14u PG WWBA Memorial Day Classics at LakePoint, although games will spill over to the East Cobb Complex in Marietta, Ga., the Cartersville (Ga.) Baseball Complex and at least five other high school fields in the north Atlanta suburbs.

Twenty-eight teams, including 25 from Georgia, two from Tennessee and one from Alabama, will vie for the 18u championship. The two entrants from Chattanooga, Tenn. – eXposure Baseball 18u and eXposure Baseball 17u – are expected to represent themselves well against the Georgia contingent, as is Alabama Baseball Academy (ABA) out of Pelham.

The Georgia contingent will be led by the historically strong East Cobb Braves 17u (Marietta) and any other number of entrants including Catch 42 (Stockbridge), Georgia Legends (Woodstock), Double Day Rockies (Plainville) and the Ninth Inning Royals (Chamblee).

643 DP Baseball out of Marietta has four teams in the field – Athletics Cougars 18u, Baseball Mang, Cougars Sterling and Jaguars Tidwell 17u – and all should be competitive. Gwinnett Baseball & Softball Academy (GBSA) from Buford has a pair of strong entrants: GBSA Rays 18u and GBSA Rays 17u.

Forty teams from the Peach State will be in the 48-team field for the 16u PG WWBA Memorial Day Classic-LakePoint, with three each coming from Tennessee and Alabama and one each from Florida and Pennsylvania. Chattanooga-based eXposure Baseball arrives with three more entrants in this tournament: 15u, Black 16u and Silver 16u.

Among the Georgia entrants, the East Cobb Astros 15u, East Cobb Braves 16u and ECB Pride 16u (all Marietta) should contend, as should Game On Stealth (Albany) and Mission Team Baseball (Dacula). Home Plate ChiliDogs Dickinson (Senoia), and Home Plate ChiliDogs Searcy 16u, Home Plate Jones and Home Plate Shelton 16u (all Peachtree City) look strong as do a pair of 643 DP entrants: Cougars Montgomery and Tigers.

The 14u PG WWBA Memorial Day Classic at LakePoint is the most diverse of any of the Classics, with 21 teams from Georgia, nine from North Carolina, two each from Alabama and Tennessee and one each from Ohio and South Carolina in the 32-team field.

PG 10u and 9u Memorial Day Classics will be played May 22-25 at Joe Cowan Park in Euharlee, Ga., and Cartersville Little League Park in Cartersville, Ga.