蘑菇视频

Jul 17, 2025 By Jonathan Guth 4 min read

Uniontown’s Rich Franks and Connellsville’s Brian Sankovich were so eager to get their teams on the field, the two coaches agreed to have a “game” on Tuesday night at Thomas E. Sankovich Field on the campus of Connellsville Area High School.

The contest resembled a scrimmage, as both teams used a plethora of pitchers and position players, and the score, if anyone was counting, ended up 6-6 with Uniontown choosing to not finish the top half of the eighth inning due to its players and coaches having trouble seeing due to darkness.

Despite the game not having any bearing on the seeding in the American Senior Legion Region 6 Tournament, which begins today at John DiVirgilio Sports Complex in Rostraver Township, both coaches were pleased to get some work in.

Uniontown (14-8-1) plays Baden (7-7) this evening at 7:45, which will be the first meaningful game the team has played since July 8, when it beat Charleroi, 7-0.

“We hadn’t got a whole lot of work in over a week, so we wanted to get these kids some reps,” Franks said. “We tried to play this game a couple different nights, but we were hosting the Junior Legion Regional tournament, and there was some rain that pushed it back, so we decided to do something like this tonight.

“I want to thank Joe Volpe and Buddy Marra for sticking around another inning so we could get some work in. It just got too dark for us to see, so we decided to call it.”

Connellsville (15-0) received a bye in the six-team, double-elimination tournament, and will play the winner of New Brighton (10-4) and Blackhawk (7-7) on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Prior to Tuesday’s scrimmage, Connellsville’s last game was a 7-0 victory over Charleroi on July 7.

“We got together for a practice,” Sankovich said. “We haven’t played in over a week, and we needed to get some work in. Uniontown was in a similar situation. We are glad to get the bye.”

Belle Vernon (12-3) will await the winner of Baden and Uniontown on Saturday at 4 p.m.

The tournament will continue with an elimination game on Saturday at 7 before picking up on Sunday with another win-or-go home contest at 1 p.m. Another elimination game will be played at 4 before a winners’ bracket game finishes the day at 7.

Monday’s action is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. with an elimination game, and the winner of that contest will face the lone undefeated team later that evening at 6:45 p.m. If the undefeated team would lose Monday evening, a championship finale would be played Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. to determine the Region 6 champion.

The champion will qualify for the state tournament, which will be held July 26-30 in Millcreek.

Sankovich has plenty of arms to work with, as he can send out four to five pitchers and have confidence they will get the job done, which is essential in a double-elimination tournament where pitch-count restrictions are also in play.

“We are a veteran team with pitching and good hitting,” Sankovich said. “We have five pitchers that can beat anybody. These kids have played together forever, and we really want to win the regional tournament.”

Connellsville isn’t too shabby when it comes to the plate, as it scored over 10 runs in five games, and nine in three contests.

Franks’ squad may not have as many pitchers as Sankovich, but he likes what he has and believes his team is coming on at the right time.

Belle Vernon won the Region 6 title last season to qualify for the state tournament. The host team features a number of quality arms.