District 31 American Legion teams jump into busy final week of regular season
It is going to be a busy week for baseball teams in District 31 American Legion.
There is a week left in the regular season, and teams are scrambling to get in all their games before Sunday.
District 31 President and Latrobe coach Jason Bush said things are proceeding smoothly.
“If nothing crazy occurs with the weather, everyone should be able to complete the season,” Bush said.
“The season is scheduled to end on Sunday, and the playoff meeting will be held that evening.”
Teams, however, battled mother nature Monday to get games in. All four games were played despite thunderstorms and heavy rain.
Two games involving three of the top teams were played.
Lower Burrell (6-7-1) upset second-place Latrobe (11-4), 7-0, and first-place Hempfield East (11-3-1) and Bushy Run (9-3-1) played to a 4-4 tie.
Hempfield East owns a half-game lead on Latrobe and a two-game lead on Bushy Run. The other games played saw Homer City (8-6) defeat Mt. Pleasant (2-12-1), 13-1, and Unity (4-10) edge Murrysville (6-8), 10-6.
Young Township, which is 4-8, did not play Monday.
“The season has been a struggle,” Lower Burrell coach Steve Scheftic said. “There are good teams this season. We did not join the league to play powder puff.
“We got off to a hot start, and then we got humbled. The ball was not bouncing our way. I feel the win against Latrobe showed we can compete against anyone. We are finding out we are not as bad as we thought.”
Scheftic said his team has games every day except the Fourth of July. Latrobe will play its annual Independence Day game against Unity.
Depending on the weather, each team should be able to complete its 18-game schedule, so the final standings could change.
Several teams — Yough, Blairsville, Penn Township and Somerset — opted out this season. Bush hopes they return next year and is always welcoming of new teams.
The Junior Legion playoffs and the District 26 Little League playoffs got underway Monday. Kiski Valley’s game was postponed by rain.
Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.
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