Fayette County Baseball League to open Sunday, May 19
A clash of the old with the new will feature opening day in the Fayette County Baseball League. The league has completed plans for another season opener to take place on Sunday, May 19, with five games involving all member teams in two divisions.
Defending champion Bud Murphy’s will host the league’s newest entry, Perryopolis, starting at 1 p.m. at the Breakneck Field. Perryopolis joined the league since last season and will replace long-time member Hopwood in the Eastern Division.
At first it looked like two teams would be withdrawing from the league when Charleroi announced it also would not be competing, while Perryopolis applied to join. But after some consideration, Charleroi decided to remain in the league and will be known as Marsh Tires of Charleroi, the name of their sponsoring organization.
This gives the league an even number of teams (10), so that no byes will have to be scheduled. The Eastern Division will consist of defending champion Bud Murphy’s, division runner-up Mill Run, Connellsville, Perryopolis and Anthony Crane. The Western Division includes champion Carmichaels, Masontown, Brownsville, Fayette City-Belle Vernon and Charleroi.
Other opening day games include Connellsville at Carmichaels, Fayette City-Belle Vernon at Brownsville (Republic Field), all at 1 p.m. and Charleroi at Mill Run, 2 p.m. Anthony Crane will play at Masontown on Monday to complete opening games.
Other first week games include:
Tuesday, May 21 – Anthony Crane at Mill Run, Fayette City-Belle Vernon at Carmichaels, Brownsville at Charleroi and Masontown at Perryopolis, all at 6 p.m.
Wednesday, May 22 – Connellsville at Bud Murphy’s, Breakneck Field, 6 p.m.
Thursday, May 23 – Masontown at Mill Run, Fayette City-Belle Vernon at Bud Murphy’s (Breakneck), Charleroi at Carmichaels, Anthony Crane at Brownsville (Republic Field), 6 p.m.
Sunday, May 26 – Mill Run at Perryopolis, Bud Murphy’s at Charleroi, Connellsville at Fayette City-Belle Vernon (DH), all 1 p.m. and Carmichaels at Anthony Crane (Republic), 5 p.m.
Teams will play a 27-game schedule with the season slated to end on July 21. The rest of that week will be devoted to making up rainouts or any games that might be needed to settle playoff entries.
Two All-Star games are on the schedule this year. The first, on June 15, will match a County League team of over 30 players against a similar lineup from Washington County, to be played at Washington. The second will be on June 29. It will be the annual battle with the Maryland All-Stars with the time and site still to be announced.