Pennsylvania

American Legion Baseball

In the coming weeks we'll be launching a bunch of exciting and new applications for the website.  The first should greatly increase the ease of becoming a member of the site and logging in for future visits!

The site now incorporates the power of Facebook to allow you to sign in using your existing Facebook login info to also login to this site.  What does that mean to you?  Well, for starters, after you login and link the site to your exising account (or new account for those of you who haven't signed up yet), you'll be able to forget your Webs login info and simply login with your Facebook name and password!

We're in the midst of creating a 'Pennsylvania American Legion Baseball' application for Facebook, but we need your help: the application will not be launched until we have at least ten members sign up (or link up) through the Facebook link in the sign-up area... so please do so and help us out!

If you have any questions about this new feature, please don't hesitate to post a comment or send me a message.

Remember to tell all of your friends about our site... we'll be launching a ton of features as the season begins, don't miss out!

There were a few design changes that did not carry through from one browser to another... those issues seem to be resolved and you should be seeing the same site layout and format on any browser now.

Please let me know if you notice anything that doesn't look like it belongs, thanks!

Here is a link to the Ohio River League's schedule.  Their schedule, along with those for the rest of the Pittsburgh Area can be found at the below link... simply go to the top of the page and change the name of the league in the drop-down menu to see the other leagues in the area.

http://www.leaguelineup.com/schedules.asp?cmenuid=6&url=orl&sid=471930904

Here is a link to Region 7's Cambria County League, make sure to check out some of their games if you get the chance!

http://www.cambrialegionbaseball.org/schedule.asp

In continuing our effort to post all of the league schedules we can find before the start of the 2010 PA Legion Baseball season, here is the schedule for the Wyoming Valley League in Region 5:http://wvalbb.webs.com/.

Click on 2010 schedule to see the schedule for every age division of the league.

The tentative 2010 schedule for the Lebanon County League in Region 4 can be found here: http://www.lebcobaseball.com/. Make sure to check out some games if you can!

Over the next couple of weeks, we'll post team and league schedules as they are released and become available.  If you know of one that you don't see here, please let us know and we'll post it.  We'd love to see as many people as possible out supporting all of Pennsylvania's teams!

Here is a link to the Chester County League's Site, where you can find schedules for each team and a league-wide schedule:

http://www.scorebook.com/ccalb

It has been more than a generation since a team from Northeastern Pennsylvania claimed the State Legion crown, but that streak hasn’t been without its share of deep runs in the tournament by Region Five teams. Most recently, Plymouth’s run to the tournament’s final day in 2007 comes to mind, with the Indians just falling short of one of the state’s two National Regional berths.

Last year’s regional tournament was conducted at two sites, with all but two games played at Scranton’s Connell Park.  The first day of the tournament began with a clash between the aforementioned Plymouth Indians and District 15 representative Delaware Valley.  Plymouth won the opener in a rout 16-2.  The day’s second game pitted 2008 Regional Champ Abington against Wyoming Valley League Champion Mountain Post.  Abington beat Mountain Post 14-2 to advance to the winner’s bracket.  The opening day’s second pair of games began with a 7-1 Selinsgrove victory over Wyalusing.  Selinsgrove has been very successful since its program was restarted in 2007 and last year it made its second straight regional appearance.  The day concluded with Milton defeating Dunmore 8-3.

The first of two loser’s bracket games started the tournament’s day two. Delaware Valley stayed alive with a blowout of its own, eliminating Wyalusing 18-4. Mountain Post also had an early exit, losing their second game to Dunmore by a score of 10-6.  In the winner’s bracket contests, the region’s two recent powers stayed unbeaten with big wins.  Plymouth beat Selinsgrove 14-4 and Abington crushed Milton 22-5 to move on to the winner’s bracket final.

The tournament’s third day began with two elimination contests.  Dunmore kept its tournament hopes alive by eliminating Selinsgrove 11-6.  Delaware Valley also gained its second straight victory 10-8, eliminating Milton in the process.  In the nightcap, Plymouth beat Abington 7-2 to take the winner’s bracket final and a place in the final day’schampionship game.  The end of the third day left just half of the tournament field remaining:  undefeated Plymouth, and Dunmore, Abington, and Delaware Valley, each with one loss.

The championship qualifier round began with an elimination game between Abington and Delaware Valley.  Here Delaware Valley’s tournament run and season ended at the hands of Abington, with a 12-1defeat.  In Game 13 of the regional, Plymouth stayed unbeaten edging Dunmore 7-6. This win set up Plymouth well for the final day of tournament, since they would have to be beaten twice.

The tournament’s final day began with a morning start for Game 14.  In a close one, Abington extended the tournament to a fifteenth game with a 9-8 victory. This result set up one game for the championship and state tournament berth, played by the two teams.  This time both offenses were on display again. Plymouth claimed its second regional title in three years with a wild 24-20 victory.  The Indians scored 76 runs in their 6 games in the tournament, while yielding 43.

Plymouth’s run in the state tournament was short lived. Despite a brief, early lead over lead over Boyertown, the host Bears knocked the Indians into the loser’s bracket with a 14-4, 7 inning victory.  The next day, Plum eliminated Plymouth 11-3 in the tournament’s sixth game. This year, Plymouth will shoot for its third regional title in four years and hopes to make a return appearance to Boyertown for another state tournament.

With the season rapidly approaching, we're looking for prospective writers for the site.  We're looking for a few people from each region to write up stories for the main page of the site every so often about their favorite team/league/area/region in PA.

You could write as often, or as infrequently, as you'd like.  No previous experience is necessary, just looking for passionate fans like us!

Please send me a message or comment on the article if you're at all interested in writing!

Thanks!

If you haven't noticed, we've installed a poll on the bottom right side of the site... please weigh in and let us know which region you think will claim this year's state title!

Just about a month until the season kicks off... plenty of other site updates and news coming soon!

                Fredericksburg’s Earl Wenger Field was the site of the 2009 Region Four Tournament.  Although already qualified as hosts, Fredericksburg added luster to their appearance by winning the Lebanon County Title as well.  Runner-up Campbelltown took the league’s bid to the tournament. Joining them were Hummelstown, the Dauphin County champ, Linglestown, the Dauphin runner-up, Franklin County Champ Chambersburg, Suburban York of the York County League, New Cumberland’s Post 143 from the Cumberland County League, and Lititz from Lancaster County.

                Day One of the tournament began with a 7-6 Linglestown win over Campbelltown.  Chambersburg knocked off Lititz, the 2008 Region Four Champ, 6-5, plating the winning run in the bottom of the ninth.  Suburban York defeated New Cumberland 10-5, and Hummelstown beat host Fredericksburg 5-1 in the first day finale.

                The second day of the tournament began with two loser’s bracket games.  Defending champ Lititz stayed alive with a 6-2 win over Campbelltown.  Post 143 rebounded from their loss on day one, eliminating Fredericksburg 10-5.  In the winner’s bracket contests, Chambersburg defeated Linglestown 6-3 and Hummelstown put away Suburban York 9-7 to stay unbeaten.

                Hummelstown and Mother Nature were the big winners on the third day of regional play.  The first game of the day, an elimination contest pitting Linglestown and New Cumberland was delayed by two hours for rain, but Linglestown eventually prevailed 11-5 to stay alive.  In the other elimination game, Lititz kept their season alive with an 8-7 win over Suburban York.  In the winner’s bracket final, Hummelstown blew out Chambersburg 15-5, invoking the mercy rule in the 7th inning.

                On Day Four of the tournament, Lititz began the day’s action by hammering Chambersburg 16-6 in 8 innings.  Hummelstown continued with romp through the tournament, eliminating Linglestown 9-7, behind a potent offensive attack.  These results set up the scenario for the final day of the tournament:  Lititz would need two wins over unbeaten Hummelstown in order to nab the region’s bid to the State Tournament in Boyertown.

                Hummelstown wasted no time claiming the Region Four title on the fifth day of action at Wenger Field, doing so with a 12-4 win over Lititz.  Although the tournament was again delayed by rain, this time in the 5th inning, Hummelstown didn’t seem to mind, running out to a 6-1 lead and continuing to score each inning as the game progressed.  Lititz could never get closer than 7-4, wrapping up their season at 16-6.  Hummelstown advanced to Boyertown for State Tournament, where it finished with a 1-2 record.

Last year was another banner season for PA Region 2 baseball.  With over six hundred teams playing ball in the state last year, the final two both came from this same region in the southeastern part of the state.

The league representatives in the Region 2 tournament were as follows in 2009:

Berks: Boyertown, Twin Valley

BuxMont: Hatfield

Schuylkill: Tamaqua

Lehigh Valley: South Parkland

Northampton: Nazareth, Kemp Post

Host: Nor-Gwyn

Entering post season play, all eyes were on the BuxMont champion Hatfield.  The team entered the tournament with a deep hitting line-up and the top pitcher in the area.  Hatfield proved that they were indeed the team to beat when they drubbed state powerhouse Boyertown in a mercy-rule 7 inning game to kick off the festivities.

Tamaqua got by Kemp Post in game 2 of the tournament, with Nazareth downing South Parkland.  The nightcap of the first day's games saw upstart Twin Valley, the regular season Berks champion, take on the host Nor-Gwyn Hawks.  Nor-Gwyn, fresh off a lackluster performance in the BuxMont post season came out with something to prove in front of the home crowd.  They got off to a fast start, knocking off the Raiders in day one.

In a matchup of two perennial powers, Boyertown rallied late to defeat South Parkland in the first elimination game of the tournament.  Twin Valley bounced back in the second elimination game of the tournament, sending Kemp Post packing for the summer.  Hafield and Nor-Gwyn continued the dominance by the BuxMont league on day 2, as both teams advanced to the winner's bracket final.  Hatfield defeated Nazareth and Nor-Gwyn topped Tamaqua.

Nazareth opened day 3 with a win over Twin Valley, ending the team's great season. Boyertown dropped Tamaqua in the day's second contest, which shaved the tournament field in half.  A battle of the BuxMont teams took place in the winner's bracket final.  This time, Nor-Gwyn came out on top and advanced to the championship round.

Boyertown and Hatfield had a rematch of the opening round game.  Boyertown was able to avenge their earlier embarrassing loss, proving that they were a more formidable team than many had given them credit for.  Nor-Gwyn defeated Nazareth in game 13 of the tournament.  By virtue of their win, and Boyertown's win over Hatfield, Nor-Gwyn earned themselves a berth into the PA State Tournament being hosted by Boyertown.

This is when the real fun began.  Boyertown continued their winning streak by defeating the Hawks in a match-up of the last two teams to win a PA state title.  This forced a decisive game 15, a game which was never actually decided.  After playing much of the tournament through rain, and incurring several delays during the early innings of the championship game, region officials determined it was best to simply declare co-champions.

Boyertown and Nor-Gwyn advanced to the state legion tournament at Bear Stadium, where they eventually met three more times: the winners bracket finals, and two championship round games.

What are your thoughts on who will represent each of the leagues in this year's tournament?

Information on PA's Region 8 is pretty scarce, however, one of our site members has been graceful enough to do a year in review write-up on the Elk County League playoffs.

We thank Elk County Fan1 for the following contribution to the site:

Elk County League Champion Bradford was the state runner-up in 2008 and they picked up where they left off in 2009. Bradford cruised through the regular season undefeated and beat Fox Twp in the finals of the league championship. Bradford finished at the top of the league followed by St.Marys, Fox Twp, Smethport, Ridgway and Kane.

The top two teams in the league, Bradford and St.Marys both received playoff byes. Fox Twp, in a wild 9 inning game, came from behind to beat Kane and Ridgway upset Smethport in Smethport. Bradford pummeled Ridgway to head to the winners final and Fox Twp 10-run ruled St.Marys for the right to take on Bradford.

In the finals of the winners bracket a huge error by Fox Twp led to a big inning which enabled Bradford to beat Fox. In the losers bracket Ridgway once again nipped Smethport and St.Marys whipped up on Kane. St.Marys then went on to defeat Ridgway to set up a rematch with Fox Twp. In a classic ending Fox Twp scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning off of St.Marys ace Nick Brennen to win the game 6-5 and reach the league finals against Bradford.

Fox would have to beat Bradford twice to advance to the Region 8 Tournament but Bradford would have no part in that as they beat Fox 7-4. Bradford finished both league and playoff play undefeated as they defended their Elk County League title once again.

We thank Elk County Fan1 for his write-up! If you are interested in writing an article for the site please don't hesitate to comment on this post or send me a message, we can use all the help we can get, thanks!

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?

Here’s a look back at the 2009 season for Region Three:

Norchester and Kennett were at the top of the Chester County League a year ago, winning the North and South Conferences, respectively.  Each had a 16-2 record in league play in the regular season.  The Central Conference was won by Downingtown, which finished at 12-6. Other playoff qualifiers included Exton, Spring City, Caln, Phoenixville, and Westtown.  The playoffs were a double-elimination affair with the first three rounds played at thehome of the higher seeds, with the remaining games hosted by Norchester at Owen J. Roberts High School.  The big surprise of the playoffs was regular season co-champion Downingtown’s elimination in two gamesby Exton and Phoenixville.  However, the end result of the playoffs was not a surprise as Norchester defeated Exton 14-7 for yet another Chester County League title.

Last year marked another successful season for the Golden Generals of Fort Washington, winners of both the regular season and playoff crowns in the Lower Montco League.  Fort Washington finished with an 18-2-1 league record finishing ahead of the other playoff qualifiers Warminster, Horsham, and Roslyn.  For the most part the double-elimination playoffs went as planned with Fort Washington knocking off Roslyn, before beating Warminster in the Winner’s Bracket Final and then dispatching the Warriors again a couple of nights later for the Lower Montco title.

There are few certainties in life, but JP Mascaro’s success in the Greater Norristown League may be close. Last summer the Haulers brought home their seventh consecutive league title, running away with it in the process. JP Mascaro finished 19-2 in the regular season, achieving regular season glory by six games.  The five other teams that qualified for the league’s double-elimination playoffs were Presidential Catering, Collegeville, Whitpain, Paul’s Auto, and Valley Forge.  JP Mascaro ran through the playoffs, defeating Collegeville at Methacton High School in the final 8-6.

Ivy Ridge continued its recent dominance for the Philadelphia County League last year, finishing with only one league loss, and defeating Bustleton 6-5 in 8 innings for the playoff title.  The Panthers set a torrid offensive pace throughout the season, scoring over 200 runs in league play.  In addition to Bustleton, Loudenslager and Rhawnhurst also had successful seasons, but could not match the power of Ivy Ridge.  Following a league title and regional berth in 2007, the Del Val Senators had a disappointing campaign, finishing near the bottom of the league standings.

Concord paced the Main Line League last summer with a 14-2-1 record, finishing the regular season just ahead of Narberth and 2007 League Champion Wayne.  Narberth wound up being the more successful team in the playoffs and claimed the league’s playoff title and its accompanying berth in the Region Three Tournament.  Joining Narberth in the somewhat surprising final matchup was Springfield, which had finished the regular season at 8-6-1.  Narberth had to fight from behind twice to claim a 10-9 victory and survival into the next round of the Legion playoffs.

Bristol knocked off traditional Lower Bucks power Yardley Western to win that league’s title in 2009.  Although Bristol finished only third in the regular season standings, Post 382 caught fire in the playoffs to grab the league’s regional berth.  Bristol first swept their semifinal series with Falls, a team that dealt Bristol three losses in the regular season.  In the finals, Bristol dropped the first gameof the series to Yardley 6-5, but rebounded with a 6-1 victory in Game Two tof orce a third and deciding game.  There, Bristol dispatched Yardley 12-5 to be crowned champion.

The 2009 Region Three Tournament was hosted by the Spring City Red Sox at Royersford’s Ram Stadium. Joining the Red Sox were Chester County foe Norchester, Main Line Champ Narberth, Greater Norristown rep JP Mascaro, Ivy Ridge from Philadelphia, Bristol from the Lower Bucks League, and Fort Washington and Warminster from the Lower Montco League.  Norchester, Fort Washington, Warminster, and Bristol were first day victors, with Norchester and Fort Washington meeting on day three in the Winner’s Bracket Final.  Norchester won this battle, and after eliminating Bristol in Game 13 of the tournament, beat league rival Spring City to claim another regional title and a trip to Bear Stadium in Boyertown for the State Tournament.

2009 Region Three Tournament Results

First Round

Norchester d. Narberth

Fort Washington d. JP Mascaro

Warminster d. Ivy Ridge

Bristol d. Spring City

Loser’s Bracket

Narberth d. Ivy Ridge (Ivy Ridge eliminated)

Spring City d. JP Mascaro (JP Mascaro eliminated)

Winner’s Bracket

Norchester d. Warminster

Fort Washington d. Bristol

Loser’s Bracket

Spring City d. Warminster (Warminster eliminated)

Bristol d. Narberth (Narberth eliminated)

Winner’s Bracket

Norchester d. Fort Washington

Championship Qualifier Round

Spring City d. Fort Washington (Fort Washington eliminated)

Norchester d. Bristol (Bristol eliminated)

Championship Round

Norchester d. Spring City (Spring City eliminated, Norchester advances to State Tournament)

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/

We've completely redone the look of the site, how's it look?

The site is being updated daily and will be ready for the first pitch of the 2010 PA legion baseball season!  If you have any questions or comments please do not hesitate to email us at [email protected].

If you feel you can assist with the site or its information in any way, please let us know!