What to know about American Legion baseball so far in Rock Hill, Fort Mill, York, more

The 2022 American Legion baseball regular season is at the halfway point, and one team in both the senior and junior divisions has taken a solid spot at the top of the League V standings.

In the senior division, Rock Hill Post 34 boasts a 6-0 league mark and has a big lead over the next two teams. Lancaster Post 31 is second at 2-2, while Fort Mill Post 43 is 2-3 thus far.

York Post 66 is 2-4 at present and sits in fourth place. Chester Post 27 is 1-5 in league play and is in the fifth spot. The top four teams in the league will advance to the playoffs at the end of the regular season.

Rock Hill head coach Jeremy McCoy is very satisfied with what his team has done in the first six games of the year.

“We came together very quickly,” said McCoy. “We have done well in all phases of the game, but we will need to continue working and improving in every phase if we are to keep on winning.”

McCoy knows his team must stay focused, because the second half of the regular season will very competitive.

“This is the toughest this league has been in a long time,” he added. “You can not take anything for granted. There are no automatic wins. You have to be ready every time you play.”

Rock Hill was expected to have strong pitching this summer, and that has played out thus far.

“We have gotten some excellent individual performances on the mound so far this season,” he added. “Our entire staff has done very well, and we have used as many as four pitchers in some games.”

McCoy thought that the offense would be productive this year, but he has been pleasantly surprised by how well his team has done at the plate.

“We have 16 home runs thus far, but we are capable of scoring runs without hitting the .long ball,” he said. “Our lineup is solid, and we can score runs in bunches. That has really helped us get to where we are right now.”

Rock Hill has played well on defense, but that is one area that McCoy knows improvement is needed as they go forward during the rest of the regular campaign and into the postseason.

“We have not played badly on defense, but we need to get better,” he added. “ We need to improve on making both the routine plays and the difficult plays. When the playoffs roll around, defense can make the difference in winning and losing,”

The undefeated mark at present is not a concern. McCoy talks constantly with his team about the next opponent and continuing to improve.

“Our number one goal at the beginning of the season was to win the league title,” he said. “That gets you a better seed in the playoffs. We do not talk about being undefeated right now. We just keep stressing our number one goal every day.”

The second half of the year begins on Monday night with a pair of games. Lancaster plays at Chester, while Fort Mill is on the road at York.

In the junior division Fort Mill is at the top of league standings with a league record of 5-0.

Rock Hill won three of four games this past week and is second with a mark of 4-3. York sits in the third spot with a record of 3-3, while Buford is fourth at 2-3. Lancaster is fifth with a record of 0-5. The top three teams in the league will automatically advance to the playoffs, and the fourth place team will get a play-in game to try and make the postseason.

Fort Mill, which went unbeaten in the regular season last year, is on track to repeat that performance again.

Fort Mill head coach Mike Lewis is happy with what he sees so far from his team, which had to replace a lot of regulars from last year’s outstanding team.

“We have come together very quickly again this year,” he said. “The players know their roles on the team.”

Fort Mill has used their offense to take the early lead in the league.

“Swinging the bats has been the key to our success thus far,” he added. “We are hitting .383 as a team through the first five games. We have come up with timely hits to win games.”

The veteran coach knows that it will take every phase of the game to be good if they are to continue winning.

“Our pitching is getting better as the season goes along,” said Lewis. “When you get players from different schools it takes time for the defense to come together. I see tremendous improvement in that phase of the game since the beginning of the year.”

The key to another successful season is to keep working hard.

“We use a lot of guys in every game, and I see plenty of improvement as we go along,” he added. “We established a culture last year when we started this program, and the players have embraced it again this year. They have worked hard and played together. I give all of the credit to them.”

The final two weeks of the regular season get started on Monday with two games. Buford travels to Lancaster, and York plays at Fort Mill.