Pennsylvania

American Legion Baseball

The Northampton County League in Region 2 has re-aligned to three divisions for the upcoming season.  Kemp Post will not be fielding a team in 2015 and, as a result, the North Division has been dissolved.  East Stroudsburg will move to the East Division, Big Pocono will move to the West Division, and the Birches will move to the South Division.  

The schedule format will be altered to retain an 18 game schedule.  The league's schedule will be available on the site when it is finalized.

We're in the process of compiling game schedules for leagues across the state.  If you have a listing of your league's schedule, please forward to us at [email protected]

If you or somebody you know may be interested in reporting/inputting scores for your favorite team or league, please email us and let us know.  Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

The Chester County League of Region 3 has added two teams (Kennett and West Chester) for the upcoming season, giving the league twelve teams in total.  Kennett will play its games at Unionville High School while West Chester will play at West Chester East High School.  Field locations for all twelve teams can be found on the Chester County League page.

A new page has been added to the growing 'legion history' pages on the site: a page dedicated to the history of the national regional and sectional tournament champions dating back to 1926.  

The format of the national regional tournaments held between the state and national championship tournaments changed format several times throughout legion history. From 1926 to 1935 east and west sectional champions were crowned. Between 1936 and 1959 four sectional championships (northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest) took place. The current format of eight regional championships began in 1960.

Boyertown won the state's first ever national regional championship in 1977, their first of nine titles.  Shaler is the only other Pennsylvania team to take home a Mid-Atlantic Regional championship which they did in 1979.  Three other PA teams have won regional titles outside of the Mid-Atlantic, with Levittown winning the Great Lakes Regional in 1977, Yardley winning the Northeast Regional en route to a national title in 1996, and State College winning the Northeast Regional in 1998.

The placement of Pennsylvania's second representative changed recently as now both PA teams head to the Mid-Atlantic Regional.

The page can be accessed at the following address, or by scrolling to the 'home' tab and down to 'legion history'.

http://www.palegionball.com/national-regional-champions

The Schuylkill-Berks League of Region 2 has switched from its previous two division alignment to a new three division layout.  Previously, the league has employed a north division that was comprised of Schuylkill County teams and a south division comprised of Berks County teams.  This summer, a third central division will incorporate several teams from the existing north and south divisions.

The new layout is as follows:

North Division

Pottsville

Schuylkill Valley

Tamaqua

Valley View

Central Division

Hamburg

Kutztown

Pine Grove

Southern Area

Tulpehocken

South Division

Fleetwood

Muhlenberg

Oley/Topton

Wyomissing

Exciting new site features are coming soon.  We're hard at work creating a simple way for any team or fan to provide up to the minute schedule and result information for their favorite team that can be instantly viewed on the site.  

If you'd like to learn more about how we're making that happen or would like to help us test the system before it's official launch, please send us an email at [email protected].

As we work our way through the dreary winter months, please keep in mind that the site is actively seeking individuals interested in helping out the site in a multitude of capacities.  If you're interested in writing, reporting scores, updating the site, or have another idea of how you could be of assistance, please email us at [email protected] and we'll get back to you as soon as possible, thanks!

Tournament is being held in Freemansburg.

Game 1

Conestoga 12, Albion 2 (6 innings)

Game 2

Nether Providence 3, Spring City 2

Game 3

Boyertown 11, Hempfield East 1 (6 innings)

Game 4

Norwin PAL 3, Freemansburg 2

Game 5

Albion 3, Hempfield East 2 (Hempfield East eliminated)

Game 6

Spring City 3, Freemansburg 2 (Freemansburg eliminated)

Game 7

Boyertown 5, Conestoga 1 (8 innings)

Game 8

Nether Providence 10, Norwin PAL 0 (5 innings)

Game 9

Spring City 4, Conestoga 1 (Conestoga eliminated)

Game 10

Albion 2, Norwin PAL 1 (Norwin eliminated)

Game 11

Nether Providence 2, Boyertown 0

Game 12

Spring City 7, Boyertown 6 (Boyertown eliminated)

Game 13

Nether Providence 5, Albion 3 (Albion eliminated)

Game 14

Spring City 8, Nether Providence 2 (8 innings)

Game 15

Spring City 6, Nether Providence 5 (8 innings)

Spring City wins 2014 PA Jr. Legion State Championship

The schedule for the state tournament is as follows, please note that games 1 & 3 and 2 & 4 are on the same side of the bracket.

Game 1

Region 3 vs. Region 5, 9:30am

Game 2

Region 6 vs. Region 8, doubleheader

Game 3

Region 2 vs. Region 7, 4pm

Game 4

Host vs. Region 4, doubleheader

The Region 2 Tournament has featured some of the closest games across the state this weekend.  On Saturday, Pine Grove of the Schuylkill-Berks League edged out the Birches of the Northampton County League 3-2 in twelve innings.  NorChester, the Berks County champion, topped NorCo champion Bath 4-3.  In the second doubleheader, Lehigh Valley champion North Parkland defeated Hatfield of the Bux-Mont League 8-3 and host Muhlenberg was downed by Bux-Mont regular season champion Nor-Gwyn 2-0.

On Sunday, the Birches bounced back to eliminate Hatfield 3-2.  Muhlenberg couldn't get the bats going for a second straight game and were defeated 12-2 by Bath.  In the winner's bracket, North Parkland won a 3-0 decision over Pine Grove and Nor-Gwyn topped NorChester 3-2.

Monday will feature two loser's bracket games and the winner's bracket final.  In game 9, Bath will take on Spring Grove.  To follow, the Birches will take on NorChester.  In the winner's bracket final, with a trip to the tournament's championship round on the line, North Parkland will face off against Nor-Gwyn.

Two days of play have been completed in the Region 7 Tournament being held in Clearfield.  The tournament's opening day on Saturday saw a couple of closely contested games.  In game 1, Beech Creek of the Central Penn League topped Indiana of the Indiana County League 3-2.  The day's lone lopsided score came in the second game when Cambria County rep Bedford topped District 31 champion Unity 14-1 in seven innings.  Claysburg kept the Cambria's winning ways going with a 9-5 win over District 31 rep Murrysville in game 3.  The final game of the day saw the host Clearfield top Indiana County regular season champion Blairsville 5-4.

Indiana County's representatives did not fare much better on Sunday.  In the day's opener, Indiana was eliminated by Murrysville by a score of 14-4 in seven innings.  Unity, bouncing back after a tough opening loss, advanced over Blairsville by a 9-3 margin.  Claysburg moved onto the winner's bracket final with a hard fought 7-6 win over Beech Creek.  In game 8, Bedford topped Clearfield 9-6.

On Monday, the remaining six teams will square off.  In the loser's bracket contests, Beech Creek will take on Unity and Murrysville will play Clearfield.  The winner's bracket final will feature both Cambria County teams as Claysburg takes on Bedford.  Claysburg topped Bedford 15-5 in the league title game.

Rain forced the postponement of three of the four opening round games on Saturday.  The lone game to be completed featured West Mifflin of the Allegheny South League and Hopewell of the Beaver County League.  The undefeated West Mifflin squad continued its winning ways, advancing to the winner's bracket with a 10-2 win.

On Sunday, the rest of round one was completed.  In the day's first game, defending regional champion Blackhawk took care of business with a 6-1 win over Monroeville of the Allegheny East League.  Uniontown, from Fayette County, needed just 8 innings to top Plum 10-0.  Moon made sure that both Allegheny South teams would find themselves in the winner's bracket after they jumped all over host Connellsville 16-1 in seven innings.

With the tournament a day behind, Monday will feature the second round games.  In the loser's bracket, Monroeville will face plum in game 5.  In game 6, host Connellsville will take on Hopewell.  Blackhawk and Uniontown will square off in the first winner's bracket contest with an all Allegheny South match-up between West Mifflin and Moon to ensue in game 8.

The Region 5 Tournament, being held at Mansfield University, has completed the first two days of competition.  Dickson City, representing District 11, topped Line Mountain of the Susquehanna Valley League in the tournament's opening game.  Nanticoke, the Wyoming Valley League champion, posted the biggest win of the day, a 16-0 win over Berwick of the Susquehanna Valley League.  Swoyersville, the Wyoming Valley's regular season champion, continued the league's winning ways with an 8-2 win over Hughesville, the West Branch champion.  Canton, the host and lone team representing the Bradford-Tioga League, beat the District 11 champion, South Scranton, 3-2 to end the first day of action.

Line Mountain bounced back with a win on Sunday morning, handing Hughesville an 11-7 defeat that ends their season.  South Scranton also extended its tournament by topping Berwick 11-1.  The Susquehanna Valley champions yielded just a run in their sixteen innings of play, including the seven inning shortened first day contest.  Swoyersville, which sports one of the top records in all of PA ALB, moved into the winner's bracket final with an eight inning win over Dickson City, 11-1.  Nanticoke would not be outdone by their league rival, moving on in the winner's bracket with an 11-4 win over the host Canton.

Monday's loser's bracket games will feature matchups of South Scranton vs. Dickson City in game 9 and Line Mountain vs. Canton in game 10.  It will be an all Wyoming Valley League winner's bracket final in game 11, with Swoyersville and Nanticoke facing off.  The winner of that game will qualify for the tournament's championship round.

The website is actively seeking sponsorships for our 2014 Pennsylvania Legion Baseball State Tournament coverage that will commence on July 29th.  If you or your business may be interested in reaching a far-reaching and dedicated audience, please contact us at [email protected] for more information.  As always, all proceeds will go towards defraying the ever-increasing cost of the live coverage production and website mainentance.

State regional brackets are being posted as the information becomes available.  The brackets for Regions 2, 3, 4, 7, and 8 have been fully updated.  The brackets are accessible by hovering over the 'postseason' tab and then clicking on the pertinent tournament link. 

There will be a lot of fresh faces in Boyertown for Pennsylvania's legion state tournament in a few weeks, and we know that before state regionals even commence.  Each year seven state regional champions are crowned.  This past week has been a struggle for a good number of those teams who failed to advance past their league tournaments this season.

In Region 2, defending champion and state-runnner up Twin Valley was downed by defending state champion Boyertown in a loser's bracket contest in the Berks County League tournament.  The team went 1-2 in the tournament a year after playing well in the Mid-Atlantic Regional.

In Region 3, defending champion Downingtown was ousted on Tuesday by Lionville.  The team went 2-2 in the league tournament a year after going 2-2 at the state tournament.

The Region 4 defending champion Spring Grove is still alive.  They lead Southwest York 3-0 in a suspended game in the third inning.  That game is due to resume shortly before 6pm on Tuesday.  The defending champs are the lone unbeaten in their league tournament and are a few wins away from a return trip to regionals.

In Region 5, defending champion Greater Pittston was eliminated from the Wyoming Valley League tournament earlier this week by Tunkhannock.  The team went 1-2 in the league tournament after going 0-2 at the state tournament last season.

Perennial Regin 6 power Blackhawk is back at it again.  They recently completed another successful run through the Beaver County League tournament where they took the title with a 3-1 series win over Hopewell.  They'll return to regionals and then attempt to better their 1-2 performance at states last year.

In Region 7,  defending champion Latrobe was eliminated in the District 31- Westmoreland County League playoffs on Sunday.  The Jethawks made it back to the league semifinals but were defeated by rival Unity two games to one in their playoff series.  Last year at states, Latrobe went 1-2.

In Region 8, perennial power Millcreek remains alive as well.  They went 0-2 at the state tournament last season. 

The Cumberland County League is down to its final four teams, with a pair of games slated for Monday.  Hampden Township and Red Land square off in a loser's bracket contest while New Cumberland and Silver Spring are scheduled to meet in the tournament's winner's bracket final.  The loser of the winner's bracket final will take on the winner of the other game, with the winner of that ensuing game taking on the tournament's unbeaten team.

The championship round has commenced in the Dauphin County League.  Hummelstown defeated Paxton in the winner's bracket final before Paxton rebounded with a win over Upper Dauphin.  Hummelstown and Paxton are scheduled to meet on Monday, a win by Hummelstown and the tournament is over.  If Paxton gets the victory, the teams will meet again for the title.

Just three teams remain in the District 10 - Lancast County League tournament.  Fresh off a win over Ephrata in the winner's bracket final, Penn Manor is currently enjoying an off day before the championship round commences on Tuesday.  Ephrata and Lancaster are scheduled to play for the right to take on Penn Manor, either of those teams will need to beat the undefeated team twice for the championship.  Ephrata defeated Lancaster earlier in the tournament.

The Franklin County League does not utilize a postseason tournament to determine their champion.  Currently, Shippensburg holds the lead over Fayetteville for best record in the league.

One more win is all it will take for Myerstown to claim the Lebanon County League title.  They currently lead their best-of-five game championship series two games to zero over Annville.  Tonight's third game has been postponed and will be played on Tuesday.

Four teams remain in the York-Adams League.  A loser's bracket game between Glen Rock and Hanover is scheduled for Monday, as is a game between the tournament's lone unbeaten team, Spring Grove, and Southwest York.  The winner of both games will meet tomorrow.  If Spring Grove tops Southwest York, they'll have to be beaten twice by the victor of the earlier game.  If not, they'll await the winner of the Glen Rock/Hanover vs. Southwest York contest.

The Chester County League is down to its final four teams.  Conestoga, the tournament's lone unbeaten team, is scheduled to take on Exton this evening.  In addition, defending regional champion Downingtown will take on Lionville in an elimination game.  The winner of both of those games will meet tomorrow.  If Conestoga wins their game, they will need to be defeated twice for the league title.

Just one game on tap for Monday in the Greater Norristown League.  Whitpain and JP Mascaro will meet for the right to take on Perk Valley, the tournament's undefeated team.  The winner of tonight's game will need to defeat Perk Valley twice for the league title.  Whitpain defeated JP Mascaro earlier in the tournament.

In the Lower Bucks League, four teams remain.  Bensalem and Falls are currently underway in an elimination game.  The winner of that game will take on the winner of the Northampton-Bristol contest.  Northampton, the lone unbeaten team to this point, will need to be beaten twice over the next couple of days for the championship.

It's one and done in the Lower MontCo League tournament this evening as Fort Washington and Roslyn play for the third time in the tournament.  Each team owns a 1-0 victory over the other with Roslyn's coming in the second round and Fort Washington winner last evening.  The winner moves onto regionals as the league champion.

The Main Line League compressed its schedule due to weather.  Wayne escaped Sunday with a couple of wins, beating Haverford and Broomall-Newtown to advance to the league's final round.  They begin the championship round tonight against Nether Providence.  Nether Providence must be beaten twice. 

In the Philadelphia County League, just the conclusion of the best-of-three championship series remains.  Chestnut Hill jumped out to a 1-0 series lead with a victory over Loudenslager on Sunday.  The second game of the series is scheduled for Monday.

The Berks County League is down to three teams.  NorChester earned a berth into the tournament's championship game with a winner's bracket final win over Exeter.  They await the winner of Monday night's game between rivals West Lawn in Boyertown.  Boyertown defeated West Lawn in the opener and NorChester on Sunday.

Three teams are left in the Bux-Mont League but they'll have to wait another day to crown a champion.  Both scheduled games for Monday have been postponed until Tuesday due to inclement weather.  When play resumes, Nor-Gwyn and Quakertown will match-up.  The winner of that game takes on Hatfield in the league's title game.  Nor-Gwyn defeated Quakertown on the tournament's first day, Hatfield beat Nor-Gwyn in the second round, and Quakertown beat Hatfield in game 13.

The Lehigh Valley League tournament has already been decided and it's perennial league power North Parkland returning to regionals as the regular season and postseason league champion.  

In the Northampton County League, just a best-of-three championship series remains.  The championship round is scheduled to commence on Monday and features Bath and the Birches.  The Birches defeated the Wanderers two games to one to win their semifinal round matchup while Bath defeated East Stroudsburg in consecutive games to win theirs.  

Rain has also forced the postponement of play in the Schuylkill-Berks League.  When play resumes, Southern Area and Pine Grove will square off for the right to take on Muhlenberg in the league championship game.  Since Muhlenberg is hosting the Region 2 Tournament, the winner of the Southern Area - Pine Grove game will also represent the league regardless of the championship game's outcome.

In case you missed our announcement last week, the staff of palegionball.com will once again be providing live state tournament coverage of every game from Bear Stadium in Boyertown.  We'll provide live streaming radio coverage through Spreaker.com which will allow anybody with an internet connection to access the coverage from anywhere in the world via our website or through Spreaker's smartphone apps.

In addition, we'll be providing Twitter updates every inning or so for all of the games.  Regardless of what type of phone you have, if you follow us on Twitter and update your account settings to allow for text updates, you'll receive a text message of every tweet we send out.  Standard messaging rates apply.

Please pass along this information to fellow fans, family, and friends so that everybody can experience the excitement of the tournament, live!