Legion baseball playoffs set to go
Uniontown will get a well deserved rest after finishing in first place in the Fayette County American Legion Baseball League’s regular season.
As the top seed in the playoffs, manager Scott DeBerry’s squad earns a first-round bye in the Fayette league playoffs, which begin Monday.
Uniontown went 16-1 in league play to finish ahead of second-place Connellsville (16-5).
Following Uniontown and Connellsville in the playoff seedings are Belle Vernon, Smithfield-Fairchance, Waynesburg, Carmichaels and Farmington
The best-of-three first round will begin on Monday with Connellsville hosting Farmington, Belle Vernon hosting Carmichaels and Smithfield-Fairchance hosting Waynesburg at Masontown-German Park.
All games begin at 5:45 p.m. There are no off days, weather permitting, meaning the second game of each series will be held on Tuesday at Farmington, Carmichaels and Waynesburg, respectively. If a third and deciding game is needed, it will be played back at the higher-seeded team’s home field on Wednesday.
Uniontown will begin play in the best-of-three second round on Thursday against the lowest remaining seed. The other two survivors will also play that day at the higher-seeded team’s home field.
The winners of the two second-round series will meet in a best-of-three championship series starting Monday, July 14, and both will advance to the Region 6 American Legion playoffs unless one of those two teams is not Connellsville.
To explain, Connellsville has been selected as the host team for the regional playoffs, which means it will automatically qualify for the regionals. Therefore, if Connellsville does not reach the Fayette league championship series, only the team that wins that series will qualify for the regionals, along with Connellsville, as only two teams from the Fayette league can qualify.
Whichever two squads end up playing in the regionals, league president Ron Popovich is confident they’ll make a strong showing.
“We have several strong teams in this league and we wish those who will represent us well in the Region 6 playoffs,” Popovich said. “I’m sure they’ll be competitive.”