SELINSGROVE —
Jersey Shore and Danville, teams that won the District 4 Class AAA and AA titles, respectively, during the high school baseball season are the top seeds for the Susquehanna Valley and West Branch American Legion playoffs, which begin tonight.
The two tournaments will be double-elimination, playing each day – weather permitting – until champions have been decided.
The SVALL and WBL representatives will join SVALL member Bloomsburg in the eight-team field at the Region 5 tournament next weekend. Bloomsburg gets an automatic bid to regionals as the host, joining Danville and Sunbury/Norry as Valley hosts over the past decade.
Regionals are July 16-20 with the winner advancing to states at West Lawn, July 26-30.
A year ago Danville overcame a slow start to the season – winning just two of its first five games – to claim the SVALL tournament title and then won the Region 5 tournament for the first time since 1988.
Harold Albertson's Post 40 squad will certainly have its work cut out for itself to even get a shot to defend its regional title. Danville is the top seed in the Susquehanna Valley, but there are plenty of contenders.
Tonight, Danville will host eighth-seeded Shamokin-Mount Carmel in one of four first-round games. In tonight’s other SVALL games, No. 7 Catawissa visits No. 2 Sunbury/Norry, No. 6 Line Mountain makes the long trip to No. 3 Berwick and No. 5 Bloomsburg visits No. 4 Selinsgrove.
The Danville-Shamokin winner will meet the winner of the Selinsgrove-Bloomsburg game, as will the losers, on Thursday. The Catawissa-Sunbury/Norry winner meets the winner of the Selinsgrove-Bloomsburg game, as will the losers.
Games will be played at the higher seed’s home field.
Bloomsburg, despite already having a bid to regionals, will play in the tournament as the fifth seed. League president Harold Albertson, Danville’s manager, said if Bloomsburg reaches the final, the team it meets in the title game will earn the league’s bid to regionals.
In the West Branch, two teams dropped out of the field, leaving a six-team, double-elimination field.
No. 1 seed Jersey Shore and No. 2 Hughesville have byes tonight while No. 6 Lewisburg visits No. 3 Milton and Watsontown and Williamsport meet each other. The winner of the Lewisburg-Milton game heads to Hughesville on Thursday while the Watsontown-Williamsport winner visits Jersey Shore.
All games, in both leagues, are set to start at 5:30 p.m.
Sports
American Legion playoffs kick off tonight
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