Pennsylvania

American Legion Baseball

Eight of Pennsylvania's finest legion baseball teams descended on Bear Stadium in Boyertown last August for the 2009 PA American Legion Baseball State Championship Tournament.  The title of the tournament is a mouthful, but the five day tournament showcased PA's elite teams from all across the state.  This past year, the tournament featured six regional champions and two regional co-champions.  Before the recap, let's get into who represented every region in the state.

Region 2: Nor-Gwyn, BuxMont League (22-13)

Region 3: Nor-Chester, Chester County League (34-2)

Region 4: Hummelstown, Dauphin County League (23-4)

Region 5: Plymouth, Wyoming Valley League (19-9)

Region 6: Plum, Allegheny River League (28-3)

Region 7: Mifflin County, Central Penn League (29-8)

Region 8: Millcreek, Erie County League (N/A)

Host: Boyertown, Berks County League (32-7)

Nor-Gwyn and Boyertown were named Region 2 Co-champions after a prolonged rainstorm forced tournament officials to cut the regional short since the outcome did not alter the placement of teams.

Day 1

Game 1 Nor-Gwyn defeated Mifflin County 10-0 in 8 innings.

Game 2: Hummelstown defeated Plum 12-6.

Game 3: NorChester defeated Millcreek 5-1.

Game 4: Boyertown defeated Plymouth 14-4 in 7 innings.

Day 2

Loser's Bracket

Game 5 Mifflin County defeated Millcreek 10-3. (Millcreek eliminated)

Game 6: Plum defeated Plymouth 11-3. (Plymouth eliminated)

Winner's Bracket

Game 7: Nor-Gwyn defeated NorChester 7-5.

Game 8: Boyertown defeated Hummelstown 7-1.

Day 3

Loser's Bracket

Game 9 NorChester defeated Plum 9-2. (Plum eliminated)

Game 10: Mifflin County defeated Hummelstown 7-5. (Hummelstown eliminated)

Winner's Bracket

Game 11: Boyertown defeated Nor-Gwyn 3-2. (Boyertown clinched National Regional Berth)

Day 4

Game 12: Nor-Gwyn defeated Mifflin County 6-5. (Mifflin County eliminated)

Game 13: Boyertown defeated NorChester 4-3 in 11 innings. (NorChester eliminated)

Day 5

Game 14: Nor-Gwyn defeated Boyertown 4-0.

Game 15: Boyertown defeated Nor-Gwyn 2-0.

With the Game 15 win, Boyertown won the 2009 state title and advanced to the Mid-Atlantic National Regional Tournament in Morgantown, WV where they went 2-2 which was good enough for third place.

With the Game 14 win, Nor-Gwyn received PA's second National Regional bid as the state runner-up and headed to Appleton, Wisconsin for the Great Lakes Regional.  The Hawks won their first two games before dropping their last two.

Boyertown and Nor-Gwyn represented Pennsylvania extremely well, compiling an overall record of 4-4 in regional play.

Who do you think are the favorites to take PA's two spots in the national regionals this year?

It is our intention to post new stories about PA legion baseball as often as possible.  If you'd like to write an article for the site yourself, or have a suggestion on one you'd like to see us write, please don't hesitate to contact myself or another administrator.  With that being said, here is our first story on Region 2's Berks County League Split.

In late February, club presidents of eight teams in the illustrious Berks County Legion League banded together and decided to leave their long time home in search of a league with a different mindset.  These teams felt that league play in Berks County was too demanding on their players, too time consuming for their coaches, and preached winning rather than having fun while playing the game.  The result was a major shake-up in one of Pennsylvania's most notorious regions and leagues.  Overnight, the league had lost seven members, with an eighth soon to follow.

The existing sixteen team league was cut in half.  Fleetwood, Hamburg, Wyomissing, Topton, Schuylkill Valley, Oley, Muhlenberg, and Kutztown all decided to head for the greener pastures of a new league which would be focused more on their interests.  Left behind were most of the Berks' top teams: Boyertown, West Lawn, Shillington, Gregg Post, Conrad Weiser, Exeter, Daniel Boone, and Twin Valley all remain.  The remaining eight teams will comprise the new look Berks League which will feature a fourteen game league schedule, with each team playing the rest two times.

The eight teams that left the Berks, and Bethel, who spent last year in the Lebanon County League, have all joined the newly formed Schuylkill-Berks League which now has seventeen teams and two divisions.  The existing Schuylkill County League will now make up the northern division of the new league, with the nine new teams representing the southern division.  

The biggest issue the exiting teams had with the Berks County League was their use of the nine inning game rule, as opposed to the seven inning games played by much of the rest of the state.  Teams felt they did not have enough pitching depth to compete with the more powerful teams.  The management of the new league believes that the teams coming over from Berks County will restore interest and competitiveness for the teams who saw dwindling numbers in recent years.

The split should help both leagues achieve their goals in the coming years.  Berks County may have solidified itself as the top league in the state after the break, as most of the perennial powers (except Muhlenberg really) are still around.  The Schuylkill-Berks league should see an increase in the amount of teenagers playing the game this summer, which will surely help their standing and ability to make a run at the Region 2 Tournament.

What do you think of the split? Who benefited? Who didn't? Do you think this increases the chance of a Schuylkill-Berks team making a run at the regional title? Post a comment or sound off in the forums, let the debate begin!

For more information on the Schuylkill-Berks league, visit their website here: http://www.schuylkill-berks.org/