What’s at stake when Rock Hill, Fort Mill face off? Plus this week’s Legion baseball sked
American Legion baseball enters its final week of the regular season on Monday, and there are key series in both the senior and junior divisions.
In the senior division, Rock Hill Post 34 and Fort Mill Post 43 will play a three-game series with the top spot in League V on the line.
Rock Hill is 8-1 in league play and 10-2 overall. Fort Mill is 7-1 in league action and 9-2 in all games.
The league winner will get a bye when the playoffs start the following week. The team that wins the series this week will be the league champion.
Rock Hill won two of three from Chester Post 27 two weeks ago and edged Lancaster Post 31 in a contest this past Friday night.
“I think that we have done as well as we have this year because of the team camaraderie,” said Post 34 head coach Jeremy McCoy. “We get along and have each other’s back.”
He added: “The series with Fort Mill over the years has always been good. I look for three very good games against a quality opponent. We don’t need to get caught up in the hype surrounding the series.”
Fort Mill won two of three from Lancaster two weeks ago and earned two wins in three outings this past week against quality non-league competition.
“We have improved as the year has gone along,” said Post 43 head coach Tom Skula. “Our hitting has been better than we thought it would be, and our pitching and defense are very consistent.”
The key for Post 43 is also very simple, Skula said.
“This is like the first round of the playoffs,” he added. “We need to block out all of the noise and take care of business on the field against a very good Rock Hill team.”
Other senior team updates
Lancaster and Chesterfield Post 77 will also play a three-game set with third place and seeding for the playoffs at stake. Since every team makes the postseason, the seedings will be based on regular season standings.
Chesterfield is 3-5 in league play heading into the week. They picked up three forfeit wins against Chester last week after being idle the previous week. Lancaster is currently 2-6 in league action. They begin the crucial series with a four-game losing streak, while Chesterfield will be playing after not playing for the past two weeks.
If either team sweeps the three-game set, they will take third place in the final league standings with the loser finishing fourth. Any other scenario could require makeup games to be played.
Both teams have one game to make up from earlier in the season. Lancaster has to make up a game with Chester, while Chesterfield must play Fort Mill. (Those two make-up games could be important, as they may need to be played to break a tie for third place between Lancaster and Chesterfield.)
Junior division end-of-season scenarios
In the junior division, there are some interesting scenarios in that division, too.
Fort Mill and Rock Hill square off with the top spot on the line: Fort Mill is 9-0 in league play and is in a great position for the postseason. Rock Hill is 6-2 in the league heading into the three-game set this week.
All Fort Mill needs to do is win one of the three games to clinch the top spot in the league. That would leave Rock Hill in second place. Even if Fort Mill wins two or sweeps the series, Rock Hill is guaranteed the runner-up spot in the regular season.
Rock Hill has to sweep Fort Mill to force a tie at the top. If that happens they would win the regular season on the tiebreaker with Fort Mill.
The other junior division series features Lancaster and York Post 66, and playoff seeding is at stake for both teams. Chester has completed its regular season at 5-7.
If Lancaster, which is now 2-7 in league play, sweeps York then they would tie Chester at 5-7 for third place. They would take that spot on the tie-breaker because they won two of three from Chester earlier in the year.
If York, which is 1-7, sweeps Lancaster that would give Chester third place, and they would be fourth. York has one makeup game with Rock Hill remaining, but even if they swept and won the rained out game, they would still do no better than fourth because they dropped their series with Chester earlier in the year. One Lancaster win solidifies fourth place for them and leaves York in fifth.
It will be an interesting and exciting week in both divisions as the teams battle not only for the top spot, but also the best playoff position.
SENIOR SCHEDULE
Monday
Rock Hill at Fort Mill, 7:30 p.m.
Chesterfield at Lancaster, 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday
Fort Mill at Rock Hill, 7:30 p.m.
Lancaster at Chesterfield, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday
Rock Hill at Fort Mill, 7:30 p.m.
Chesterfield at Lancaster, 7:30 p.m.
Friday
Chesterfield at Fort Mill, 7:30 p.m.
JUNIOR SCHEDULE
Monday
Fort Mill at Rock Hill, 7:30 p.m.
Lancaster at York, 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday
Rock Hill at Fort Mill, 7:30 p.m.
York at Lancaster, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday
Fort Mill at Rock Hill, 7:30 p.m.
Lancaster at York, 7:30 p.m.