7/9/19
Can anyone knock off South Parkland?
That’s the big question heading into the postseason as the Lehigh Valley Legion Baseball League playoffs get underway this week for local entrees Lower Macungie and Emmaus.
Eight teams have qualified for this year’s double-elimination tournament, with South Parkland, the two-time defending champions, earning the top overall seed with a perfect 14-0 record.
Emmaus, the No.8 seed, will get its third crack at the Trojans when they travel up to Parkland High School in Wednesday’s 6 p.m. opener. Head coach Ryan Schaffer’s team, which finished just 5-10 during the regular-season, earned the last seed into the tournament and dropped both of its contests to the Trojans, an 8-1 defeat on June 14 and a 5-0 setback on July 2 in a game that was stopped in the top of the fifth inning due to weather.
Over at Lower Macungie, head coach Jeff Smith’s team finished 9-7 and earned the No. 4 seed and a first-round home game at 6 p.m. against Northern Valley, the No. 5 seed. The two teams split during the regular-season with each winning on the other teams home field — Lower Mac rolling to a 16-2 rout on July 1 at Northwestern High School and Northern Valley edging the Mustangs 4-3 on June 11 at Church Lane Park. Pennsportsradio.com will have Live coverage of this game beginning at 5:55 p.m. with the pregame show.
In other first-round matchups, No.2 seed North Parkland (12-4) hosts No.7 seed Salisbury (5-10-1) and No.3 seed Carbon (9-7) is at home against No.6 Coplay (5-9-1).
The Lehigh Valley champion will advance to the Region 2 Tournament, which gets underway on July 19 at Boyertown’s Bear Stadium.
Wednesday, July 10 (First Round)
Game 1 – No. 8 Emmaus @ No. 1 South Parkland
Game 2 – No. 5 Northern Valley @ No. 4 Lower Mac
Game 3 – No. 6 Coplay @ No. 3 Carbon
Game 4 – No. 7 Salisbury @ No. 2 North Parkland
Thursday, July 11 (Second Round)
Game 5 – Winner Game 1 vs Winner Game 2
Game 6 – Winner Game 3 vs Winner Game 4
Game 7 – Loser Game 1 vs Loser Game 2
Game 8 Loser Game 3 vs Loser Game 4
Friday, July 12 (Third Round)
Game 9 – Winner Game 7 vs Loser Game 6
Game 10 – Winner Game 8 vs Loser Game 5
Saturday, July 13 (Fourth Round)
Game 11 – Winner Game 5 vs Winner Game 6
Game 12 – Winner Game 9 vs Winner Game 10