A Look at The American Legion Baseball District Tournaments
The New Jersey American Legion playoffs begin with district play this week and five South Jersey teams from the Camden County American Legion League will be vying for one of the four spots in the state tournament. In addition, another team from the seven-county South Jersey area, Bordentown, is also in the tournament.
There are four district tournaments statewide, consisting of four teams each. The winner of each district will then compete in the four-team double-elimination state tournament beginning July 27 at Kean University.
The district tournament begins on Monday (July 20) and ends on Wednesday, weather permitting. Here is a look at the districts consisting of South Jersey teams.
District 1 consists of four teams outside the seven-county South Jersey area – Lawrence, Phillipsburg, Whitehouse and Hightstown. This district will take place in Whitehouse, NJ .
District 2: The four teams are Hamilton, Cherry Hill, Montgomery Superior and North Hamilton.
This district takes place at Bob DeMeo Field in Hamilton (Mercer County).
Cherry Hill is the defending state American Legion champion. Last year Cherry Hill fell one game short of reaching the American Legion World Series. Cherry Hill lost 10-6 to Chesapeake, Virginia in the Mid-Atlantic Regional championship. Chesapeake then went on to win the American Legion World Series.
This is another strong veteran Cherry Hill team, made of many recent high school graduates, including outfielder-pitcher James Rowe and pitcher-infielder Will Solak of Haddonfield, first baseman Mason Rosenberg (Bishop Eustace), catcher Hayden Baker (Cherry Hill West) and pitcher Christian Williams (Paul VI).
This is mostly a new team but for the second season in a row Cherry Hill earned the title in the Camden County American Legion League, going 13-3. Brooklawn was 13-2, but teams earn points for wins, and Cherry Hill won the tiebreaker by beating Brooklawn in the season series 2-1.
“This should be a great tournament with a couple of good teams in each county with a legitimate chance,” said Cherry Hill general manager Bo Gray.
North Hamilton, which went 11-7 in Mercer County American Legion play, bears watching as does Montgomery Superior, making this one of the stronger districts.
District 3: There are two teams from South Jersey competing – Washington Township and Brooklawn Blue. Washington Township had a strong year in the Camden County League (even though Washington Township is in Gloucester County, it competes in the Camden County League, the same with Mullica Hill). This season Washington Township was 9-5 in league play.
Brooklawn Blue is the younger of the two Brooklawn entries and went 5-9 in league play. The other teams in District 3 are Allentown and Montgomery Superior Blue. The likely favorite is Allentown, which went 16-2 in winning the Mercer County American Legion League. Allentown won consecutive state titles in 2021 and 2022. This district will be staged at Mercer County Park.
District 4: Brooklawn Red is the host and is among three South Jersey teams. The others are Mullica Hill and Bordentown, which went 11-5 competing in the Mercer County League. Broadstreet Park, which went 6-12 in the Mercer County League, is the fourth team.
While Brooklawn is the favorite, Mullica Hill went 9-5 in the Camden County League and that included a 9-5 win over Cherry Hill. Bordentown went 11-5 in the Mercer County League and will be a threat.
Cherry Hill American Legion pitcher Will Solak / Marc Narducci
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Author: Marc Narducci
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