American Legion baseball kicks off season with three-day tournament
The Fayette County American Legion Baseball League is kicking off the 2024 season in a grand way with a Memorial Day weekend tournament with all seven teams participating.
DiVirgilio Park, Belle Vernon蘑菇视频 home field located in Rostraver Township, will host all but one of the games.
Charleroi, the defending league champion and state tournament finalist, will entertain Uniontown Friday at 6 p.m. Connellsville plays Smithfield-Fairchance in the first game of a doubleheader at DiVirgilio Park at 6 p.m. with host Belle Vernon playing Waynesburg, who returns to the league this season, at 8.
All four games on Saturday and Sunday will be played at DiVirgilio Park.
Colonial 3 plays a doubleheader with Charleroi at 10 a.m. and Belle Vernon at noon. Connellsville faces Waynesburg at 2 p.m. and Smithfield-Fairchance closes the second day with a game against Uniontown at 4 p.m.
The final day has Waynesburg and Colonial 3 opening play at 10 a.m.
Belle Vernon plays a split doubleheader with Smithfield-Fairchance at noon and Uniontown at 4 p.m. Connellsville and Charleroi play at 2 p.m.
Belle Vernon manager Thomas Jackson takes over as the director of the league. Charleroi manager Luke Mollis will be the vice president.
鈥淟ucky, I guess. I got the short straw,鈥� said Jackson, tongue-in-cheek, on how he moved into the leadership role. 鈥淏rad (Yohman) stepped down.鈥�
The league schedule is condensed with regular season play coming to a close at the end of June.
The playoffs will return to a playoff format with the sixth and seventh place teams playing a preliminary game on July 1. The top two teams receive a bye into the semifinals with the remaining four teams playing a best-of-3 series.
The best-of-3 format remains throughout until a champion is determined.
The semifinalists all earn a berth into the regional tournament, hosted by Blackhawk this year.
Jackson believes the league will be balanced this summer.
鈥淚 think all the teams will be highly competitive. Games will be no walk in the park,鈥� said Jackson.
Players can not turn 20 in the calendar year, so college players will dot rosters throughout the league.
Martin Vojacek, Chris McManus and Nick Eadie return to lead Colonial 3 in its second season back in the league after a long hiatus. The roster is composed of Brownsville and Frazier players, plus Uniontown蘑菇视频 Hunter Smiley.
鈥淲e all played for Colonial 3 many, many moons ago,鈥� said Vojacek. 鈥淲e talked to the kids about how good the competition is.鈥�
Vojacek liked the idea of the season-opening tournament.
鈥淭om floated the idea. The season is only a month long,鈥� said Vojacek. 鈥淚t is very important for us to win this weekend. Losing蘑菇视频 not fun.
鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to change the atmosphere. We know they鈥檙e good baseball players.
鈥淚t蘑菇视频 very important to have a good weekend, especially with the (tough seasons) Brownsville and Frazier had.鈥�
Vojacek added, 鈥淚 believe anyone can win on any night.鈥�
Nick Groover took over the Albert Gallatin baseball program in the spring and will continue duties as the first-year manager of the Smithfield-Fairchance Legion team.
鈥淚 wanted them to play in the summer. If someone was going to coach them this summer, I want them to play for me,鈥� explained Groover.
The squad will include players from Albert Gallatin, plus Carmichaels鈥� Robbie Wilson-Jones, Brayden Andrews and Colin Andrews.
Groover hopes to build on the Colonials鈥� play in the spring.
鈥淲e always feel we鈥檙e competitive,鈥� said Groover. 鈥業t蘑菇视频 important to get wins early to build off.
鈥淚 think we can play with anyone. We just have to minimize our errors.鈥�