Four from Mercer to play in State Final 8
Heading into the New Jersey American Legion Final 8 at Ewing’s Fred Walters Field in Frank Moody Park Saturday, teams from the Mercer County American Legion League have a 50-50 chance at emerging as state champion for a second year in a row.
Four of the eight teams in the field hail from the MCALL, which is currently the biggest league in the state with 12 teams.
A third of Mercer’s clubs will be vying for the title which Hopewell Post 339 won in 2017 on its run to the American Legion World Series. Hopewell (24-8) returns this season, along with Hamilton Post 31 (17-9), Broad Street Park Post 313 (20-8) and South Brunswick Post 401 (15-10).
They will be joined in the field by perennial powers Whitehouse Post 284 (27-3, previously known as Flemington Post 159) and Brooklawn Post 72 (26-6), plus Washington Township Post 521 (20-15) and Cherry Hill Post 372 (15-9) of the Camden County League.
Like a year ago, the teams will be paired into two fourteam divisions for three days (weather permitting) of pool play with four games per day. Broad Street Park joins Whitehouse, Brooklawn and Cherry Hill in the American Division, while Hopewell, Hamilton, South Brunswick and Washington Twp. make up the National Division.
Tuesday is scheduled as an off day for all teams, although a wet forecast could change that.
Wednesday, the winner of the National Division will meet the second-place team from the American Division at 4 p.m., and the winner of the American Division will play the National Division’s second-place team at 7 p.m. in the semifinals.
The state final is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday. New Jersey’s Legion champion will advance to the MidAtlantic Regional in Purcellville, Va. Aug. 8-12.
One change for this season’s tournament (and every tournament beyond, including the World Series) is that all games will be seven innings by national mandate.
The first game of pool play gets underway at 9 a.m. Saturday with Post 401 meeting Post 521. Post 313 will follow at approximately 11:30 a.m. with a game against Post 372.
Saturday’s late afternoon session features two interesting matchups as Post 31 and Post 339 square off at 3 p.m. in a rematch of last season’s championship game, then Posts 72 and 284 follow at approximately 5:30 p.m. in what should be one of the better games of the tournament.
For those who cannot make it to Moody Park, WBCB will be video streaming all Hamilton, Broad St. Park and Hopewell Final 8 games live at wbcbsports. com and on the WBCB Sports Facebook page.