Local baseball league season nears an end

Published 8:29 am Friday, June 5, 2009

Back in April, the Southampton/Sussex Baseball League began its season with 21 teams filled with high hopes and intentions of winning championships. June has arrived, and those teams that play in the three divisions have found a few answers to questions that existed before the season began.

The regular season will conclude with a few deciding games being played on the last weekend of the regular season. The rest of the answers will have to wait until June 20, when the League Championships will be played at Southampton Academy in Courtland.

The Mustang level (9-10- year-olds) has seen Courtland and Wakefield exhibit dominance over league opponents during the course of the season. Both have one loss apiece, having each beaten the other during the regular season. Courtland currently has the upper-hand in the standings as Wakefield also has a tie with Sedley. Sedley and Capron have also proven to be competitive as they hold records of 8-3-1 and 8-4, respectively.

The Bronco level (ages 11-12) has had the teams of Sedley, Wakefield and Courtland appear to be the frontrunners for their championship. Sedley currently holds an 11-1 record while Wakefield and Courtland are each 10-3. Wakefield has secured the second seed as it was victorious over Courtland both times during the regular season. In what should be a good game to watch, Courtland and Sedley will face each other on Sunday in the regular-season finale.

The Pony teams have seen Sedley be the dominant force at that level. Sedley went through the regular season undefeated and has secured the top seed for the tournament.

Wakefield dropped its only two games of the year to Sedley and could also pose a threat to win the tournament.

The league tournament will begin June 12 with quarterfinals games for the Mustang level being played at Capron and Ivor.

Waverly and Wakefield will host the Bronco level, and the one Pony quarterfinal will be played in Newsoms. Semifinals will be played on Sunday, June 14. Sites for those games will be Newsoms-Mustang, Sedley-Bronco, and Hunterdale-Pony.

All game times will be at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.