Uniontown to host Junior Legion tournament
Submitted photo
Hutchinson Field in South Union Township has served as the host for several American Legion Baseball regional tournaments in the past decade, and Uniontown Senior Legion manager Richie Franks believes the way those tournaments were run led to Uniontown being awarded the opportunity to host the Region 6 Junior Legion tournament, which begins Saturday afternoon.
Junior Legion players are between the ages of 13 and 17 and the games follow the Senior Legion format of seven innings. The Region 6 tournament will feature four teams, will run over three days and is double elimination.
“The process for hosting the Junior Legion tournament is similar to the Senior Legion,” said Franks who is the sectional director for the tournament. “We put in a bid for it and were awarded the opportunity to host it. There is a lot of hard work that is put into running it, but the township does a great job of taking care of the fields and giving us everything we need.”
July in southwestern Pennsylvania means the threat of inclement weather, which doesn’t serve well during a baseball tournament, but Hutchinson Field benefits from having lights.
“Over the years, we have had many games played that would have needed to be resumed the next day due to inclement weather,” Franks said. “We are fortunate to have lights and a great grounds crew from the township that really helps get the field ready to play. That is a big thing when you are trying to condense all the games into one weekend.”
Ron Popovich will serve as the regional director of the tournament. The Albert Gallatin graduate, who was also the head coach of the Colonials for several seasons, has been the Region 6 director for many years at numerous sites.
The admission is $5 per car for each day. The concession stand will be open all three days of the tournament. Admission is cash only, but the concession stand will accept cash and card. There will be one set of restrooms available for use near the concession stand.
As the host team, Uniontown received an automatic berth in the tournament. The host will play the Woo Sox (Monroeville Area) at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. Gateway is the second team that qualified from Monroeville out of Westmoreland County. It faces Belle Vernon at 4 p.m.
The teams that lose the first two games will play the third game on Saturday at 6:45 p.m.
The fourth game is scheduled for Sunday at 3 p.m. featuring the Game 1 and 2 winners. The winner of Game 3 will play the loser of Game 4 at 5:45 p.m. on Sunday.
The tournament will finish Monday with the first game being scheduled for 4:30 p.m. If a seventh game is needed, the winner-take-all championship finale will follow the first game.
The start times are subject to change based on how quickly the others are completed, and inclement weather could also play a factor.
The champion advances to the state tournament in Berwick.
“We hope to have a nice turnout,” Franks said. “These kids are a little younger than Senior Legion, but we have some solid teams that will be playing. We try to make it nice for the players and coaches, too, by having an announcer and music.”