Mapping it out: Latrobe, W&J possible future sites for American Legion baseball
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Blackhawk receives its gold medals from regional director Ron Popovich after defeating Uniontown in the Region 6 American Legion Baseball Tournament final at Chippewa Field on Monday.
Uniontown receives its runner-up medals from regional director Ron Popovich after falling to Blackhawk in the Region 6 American Legion Baseball Tournament final at Chippewa Field on Monday.
Rain forced some shifting of game times and sites at the recently completed Region 6 American Legion Baseball Tournament held in Beaver County but everything worked out in the end.
Even so, such scrambling due to weather might not be as much of a factor next year if Region 6 director Ron Popovich’s plan is implemented.
Blackhawk defeated Uniontown, 10-4, in Monday’s Region 6 final and advances to play in this weekend’s double-elimination state tournament in Boyertown. There may be a switch in facilities for that event also in 2023.
Popovich felt this year’s Region 6 tournament went well although with fewer teams than usual.
“It was a six-team tournament with pool play this year, a little different from years past,” Popovich said. “The teams that were in the final were both undefeated in the tournament so it worked out well.”
Uniontown and Charleroi, the two representatives from the Fayette County American Legion Baseball League, wound up meeting in the semifinals with Uniontown rallying from a 7-2 deficit to win 8-7 on Joe Chambers’ walk-off single that scored Alex McClain.
“The Charleroi-Uniontown game was two teams that have a history and want to beat each other pretty bad and it was a very exciting, competitive game, sort of like up in Beaver there’s the Blackhawk-Hopewell rivalry,” Popovich said.
“We did have to deal with weather. The tournament was supposed to all take place at Hardy Field in Beaver but we got some rain and had to use the backup field which was Blackhawk’s Chippewa Park. I thought they handled it very well there and we got it all in.
“The games were very competitive. I thought it was a successful tournament.”
The 2021 tournament was supposed to be an eight-team format but didn’t work out that way.
“Last year some dropped out and it wound up being seven teams,” Popovich said. “The host team did get a bye because of that and some weren’t happy about that. We tried to prevent a similar scenario from happening again this year so we decided to switch to a six-team tournament.”
Popovich doesn’t foresee that problem next year.
“I’m confident in the future we’re going to have more teams in the league,” said Popovich, who is also head coach of Albert Gallatin’s baseball team. “I hear there are some new teams that want to come in at Fayette and Beaver so I think we’re going to be, hopefully, back to an eight-team tournament, which is double-elimination.”
Where that tournament will be held hasn’t been determined yet.
“We still have to have a lot more discussions about the regional next year,” Popovich said. “It would likely go back to Fayette County although we are having conversations with W&J to see if we can get their facility not only for next year’s regional tournament but maybe even for every year after that in the future.”
The two Beaver County fields are grass with no lights while Washington & Jefferson’s field, Ross Memorial Park, is turf and does have lights.
“That would help a lot in that a rainout in the past would probably be a rain delay there,” Popovich said. “That’s definitely something we’re really looking into. I’m hoping to have some answers on if that’s possible or not in the next few months.”
Popovich also indicated that Latrobe is being considered for next year’s American Legion state tournament.
“It might be in Latrobe but nothing has been confirmed yet,” Popovich said. “If it is in Latrobe then whoever qualifies from our region probably won’t be required to stay near the facility. Anyone that travels more than about an hour and a half has to stay at the hotel they provide.”
Popovich’s grand plan is to eventually have the state tournament held at Ross Memorial Park.
“If we could get the W&J facility for our region for a few years I’m thinking of the possible chance that we could have the states in our region, maybe in 2025. That would benefit us because then we’d get two teams into the states from the region, the host and the winner or runner-up in the tournament.”
Last year’s Region 6 tournament was played at Hutchinson Field in Hopwood and won by Uniontown, which advanced to the state tournament in Boyertown where it went 2-2. Hutchinson Field, which is grass and does have lights, will likely host the Region tournament again next year if it’s not being held at W&J.