Legion Playoffs

[steelerfan6]

According to rules if you break them your team is done at that point. They should not be allowed to play any farther in regionals. But we will see what happens. They started their tournament a week later that cambria does wonder why?

[life hunts]

If I am not mistaken, the Regional tournament pairings are set up one year in advance with the only variance being the host team generally plays either the opening game or perhaps a night game under the lights to generate more revenue at the gate.

My question is why do two champions square off in game one. From my recollection, generally it was a huge advantage to win your league so as to get a bit of an easier game early on.

However, one has to remember, to win it all, you will have to beat the good teams at some point. Perhaps Claysburg will have a better shot with their pitching relatively fresh.

[pas2326100]

As the coach of Claysburg legion, we too had some of the same questions as everybody else and presented them to the proper people. We received an explanation and wether we agree or disagree is irrelevant but the bracket is what it is and we cannot change that. What we can and will do is come out fighting from the first day on and let the chips fall where they may. I absolutely love working with this group of young men who show up and give their very best every day. They have come from different areas and meshed very well together. We will not be in awe of anybody but will respect everybody and the one thing i can assure you about this group of guys is that they may or may not come out of this thing on top but they Will not go down without a fight. Baseball is a funny game and alot depends on who gets hot at the right time. If everything with baseball went according to perception then i guess the Pirates would end 0 - 162 but even they find a way to win 60 or so times a year.
We really appreciate the support we have been receiving and hope that we can represent the CCAL to the best of our abilities. We are honored to be one of the representatives along with Somerset which has a very storied tradition and wish them best of luck as well

[Sgt. O'Rourke]

Coach, I'm humble enough to wish you well also. As a longtime fan of CCAL baseball, I've stated my opinion as to why Claysburg had a (perceived) unfair advantage this year, along with a couple other teams with their ability to draw quality players from more than one school district. Can YOU, tell me and others on here, how this discrepancy came to be, and defend why you think this was fair to the rest of the league teams that will only draw players from one school district? Like Spangler, Portage, Lilly, St. Michael, Meyersdale, etc.? Give the COACH a chance to answer this first, before all you other know-it-alls do. Thank You.

[sydfinch]

Give the COACH a chance to answer this first, before all you other know-it-alls do.

Takes one to know one.

[pas2326100]

Sgt. I am in total agreement with you that there are many things out of whack with legion baseball. On the positive side this league represents many Veterans from the various posts who give us an avenue to get on the field and compete. On the negative i agree with you that the logistics of this league and every other Legion baseball League are very messed up. Schools like Hollidaysburg from Central Penn have themselves, Altoona kids this year and Huntingdon kids, and Portage is a stand alone. Even as far as we are concerned we have an advantage and i am not blind to it. As a coach all I can do is take the parameters that are set forth in front of me and put the best possible team on the field that i can. As i found out at regionals this weekend my opinion and .75 cents will get me a can of Pepsi as far as the powers that be are concerned. I want to state, in reference to that comment, that even though i had a problem with the bracket and some other things pre-tournament that transpired, those things in no way determined our fate this weekend. No excuses here, we just picked the wrong time to play our worst baseball of the season and as a manager i have to shoulder the blame for not having my team ready this weekend. My team has nothing to hang their heads about as they had an outstanding season which just didnt end in the fashion that we wanted. We will regroup and i will be back out there watching high school games whenever my sons College baseball schedule allows and we will see if we can pick up the pieces necessary to make another run next year.

[Sgt. O'Rourke]

Thank you coach. It was refreshing to see you state that even though you disagree with a lot that goes on in CCAL baseball, you only follow the guidelines that are set for you. It is, and will continue to be, unfortunate for the teams that can only draw players from a single local area year after year. Good luck next year. Sydfinch: Bite me.

[legion_coach]

Enough of the small teams complaining about their zone. It is not an issue of fairness. Rather, it is an issue of intelligence. The small teams have a chance to combine with other teams, but they choose not to, and instead choose to play with their current composition. In fact, many times some teams have been asked to merge, but as long as they have enough to fill out a roster, they'll pass. If they can't compete (or even win a game) its their own fault.

The national rules set the zoning requirements, and the local leagues set up the teams as they see fit. Most of these teams have the same zones they have always had. In my eyes there are two options, 1) scrape enough kids together and play the game, and live with the results, or 2) give up your team and merge it with someone else and then see how you compare to the elite. You may be surprised.

This system is much more of a fair system than the 'Open" leagues such as AAABA or Colt Leagues where you can get whoever you want. Legion teams still have to stay within their zone.

[sydfinch]

Forget "fairness" for a second and think about this issue as a matter of "competitiveness." It's not good for anyone having "big" teams beating up on "little" teams. And make no mistake, all the coaches and general managers in the league that I've talked to recognize it. There's just no consensus at all on what to DO about it? There are only three options: Break the big teams up into littler teams, join the little teams into bigger ones or (as legion_coach suggested) accept it for what it is, shut up and play ball. Or maybe there's a fourth option, which is some combination of all of the above.
Legion allows teams to pull from population bases as high as 45,000. Bedford is the only team in the league that even comes close to that threshhold. If you consider the populations of Cambria (147,000), Somerset (78,000) and Bedford (47,000) counties, that's 272,000 total so that would mean you could have a minimum of 6 "mega" teams and still be legal. While you'd have some excellent baseball, you'd probably be leaving a lot of kids who want to play on the sidelines. Right now, there are 15 teams, which is clearly too many based on some of the teams' ongoing issues with fielding nine players on a nightly basis. The "right" number for competitiveness, both in the local league and at the regional and state level (where local teams already are at a disadvantage because most top 18 and 19 year olds in our league area play AAABA), would be 10 or 11 teams, maybe broken down like this:
Bedford, two teams
Somerset, three teams
Cambria, five or six teams
Who goes where and merges with whom? That's where the fun begins.

[legion_coach]

Most of the teams field a team so that there is a place for their kids to play against better competition. So in that regard, it works. However, if some of these teams really want to win, then perhaps they need to merge with some other teams of the same size. Case in point - a few years ago Patton wanted to merge with Spangler, but Spangler declined the invitation. This year both teams were .500, so go figure.

Regardless of what happens, the level of competitiveness is still there. True, every game isn't against a top caliber opponent. But take a minute and check out the AAABA league and show me how its different. There is a considerable dropoff after Delweld and Martella's. Just visit the Roxberry Creamery website and you will see some of lowest batting averages in AAABA history. Delweld and Martella's each played that team eight times apiece. Just an opportunity to pad the stats.

If a legion team really wants to be competitive and play elite competition, they can travel and play teams from the Central Penn, Indiana, or Westmoreland County leagues. Those teams are always looking for extra games. Somerset, Bedford, and Richland have always gone out of the league for extra games, so there is no reason why some of the other teams can't do the same in order to achieve their level of competition. Plus, it would give them a chance to see how they matchup with teams they may see at Regionals, should they be fortunate enought to qualify.

The only thing holding back the CCALL is that some teams just don't want to give up their team. If that makes them less competitive, then so be it.

On a side note - It does make me laugh though when teams like Somerset act like they are so big and bad. True, they are very successful at beating up some of the CCALL teams, but not once have they ever won the regional and made it to the state tournament. Just put them in the fish tank with State College or Punxsy and look who gets swallowed up every time.