Legion Baseball regionals: Day 1 recap

Legion Baseball regionals: Day 1 recap

The road to Shelby is underway at the eight regional tournament sites hosted the first day of the American Legion Baseball regional tournament.

Seven of the eight regions were able to complete the day’s slate, with the Northeast forced to postpone three games to Thursday.

For brackets, schedules and live stats click here. To follow the action on the Legion Baseball app, click here.

Here is a recap of the day’s events:

Region 1 – Northeast – Shrewsbury, Mass.

Only one game was completed due to rain, with Maine easily handling Vermont. Game two was suspended with Stamford (Conn.) holding a 1-0 lead over New Hampshire. Game two will be resumed early Thursday with the region utilizing two venues to try to get back on schedule ahead of Friday’s matchups.

Region 2 – Mid-Atlantic – Purcellville, Va.

Three matchups featured teams putting up double-digit runs, with New Jersey, Maryland and Ephrata (Pa.) cruising to wins, while Delaware managed to advance 5-2. Both teams from the host state, Albemarle and Leesburg, are on the ropes after losing on Wednesday and will compete on opposite sides of the loser’s bracket. They will compete with New York and Wesleyville (Pa.), respectively.

Region 3 – Southeast – Asheboro, N.C.

The host team, Randolph Co. (N.C.) treated the home crowd to a victory and will face Georgia, winners of the first game of the day. South Carolina and Florida utilized strong pitching, holding their respective opponents to one run each to advance. In the elimination games, Alabama will face West Virginia and Kentucky will face Wilmington (N.C.).

Region 4- Mid-South – New Orleans

Arkansas opened the day with a seven-run sixth inning to rally past Tennessee. Missouri utilized a Jason Rackers shutout in an 11-0 victory over Mississippi in the following contest. Leplace (La.) and Oklahoma earned the day’s last two victories, defeating Kansas and New Orleans, respectively.

Region 5 – Great Lakes – Napoleon, Ohio

Stormmy Coffman faced just six more than the minimum for the day's only nine-inning shutout as Edwardsville (Ill.) topped Indiana in the day's opener. Michigan and Danville (Ill.) each posted high-scoring wins over Oshkosh (Wis.) and Beverly/Lowell (Ohio), respectively. The nightcap featured a low-scoring battle with Eau Claire (Wis.) edging the hosts.

Region 6 – Central Plains – Dickinson, N.D.

Runs were not at a shortage early on day one in Dickinson, with South Dakota topping Ham Lake (Minn.), 15-5. In a battle of Nebraska teams, Creighton Prep topped Papillion, 7-4 in game two. Iowa topped Fargo (N.D.) in the penultimate game of the day and the hosts, Dickinson, ate New Brighton (Minn.) to end the day.

Region 7 – Northwest - Missoula, Mont.

In one of the day's most entertaining games, Washington jumped out to an 11-1 lead and had to fight off a game Idaho squad, who brought the tying run to the plate before falling 13-11. Wyoming cruised 10-0 over an Oregon team that is seeking to return to the American Legion World Series. The hosts cruised past Alaska in game three and Hawaii topped Bozeman (Mont.) in game four.

Region 8 – Western – Denver

No, that wasn’t a typo on the bracket – Nevada really did score 30 runs. The boys from Henderson put forth an incredible team effort, with 11 players earning multiple hits, including eight who had at least three hits by the fifth inning. Nevada will face a California team whose offense produced 15 runs in a game that could require multiple scorebooks. Utah won in a nailbiter and Arizona closed out the day with a victory, as well. The host state sent both teams to the loser’s bracket, with Grand Junction facing Texas and host team Eaglecrest battling New Mexico.