Final Weeks of League Play
July 17, 2011 - The 67th Annual AAABA National Tournament is four week away and league playoffs are beginning. Here is a brief look at the current situations in the various leagues.
JOHNSTOWN - Defending champions Delweld have opened a 3-game lead over Martella's Pharmacy and are one win away from clinching the regular season championship and guaranteed berth in the national tournament. Delweld and Martella's finish their seasons with a 3-game set against each other beginning on Monday. They have split their season series 3-3 so far.
The battle for third place is even closer, as a resurgent Roxberry Creamery team has won their past 2 games and are 1 game behind the Berkley Hills Renegades. Tony Joseph--the new manager for Roxberry--has brought new life to the team and will look to lead them into third place during their final series with the Renegades.
All four teams qualify for the playoffs, with five-game series between the 1st and 4th seeds and 2nd and 3rd seeds. The playoff champion represents Johnstown as the host entry in the national tournament. The regular season champion (or playoff runner-up if the same team wins the regular season and playoffs) will qualify as the secondary Johnstown representative, referred to as Flood City on this website.
For more information, visit the Johnstown City League section of this website.
ALTOONA - Johnston Realty leads upstart Red Bull by half-a-game for the lead in Altoona. The regular season champion will advance to the national tournament. Red Bull currently has a game in hand due to a postponed game which has not been rescheduled yet. Johnston has only 2 games remaining, and Red Bull 3. Third-place Logan Beverage and fourth-place Ketrow Insurance have been eliminated.
For more information, visit the Altoona Greater City League website or the stats page on this site.
BUFFALO - Regular-season champion Pignataro's Financial Group swept their best-of-3 series against Royal Printing to advance to the finals. Pignataro's was the 2008 Buffalo representative and finished 0-2 in Johnstown. In the other semi-final, Mader Construction knocked off Ken-Hy Auto 5-2 in the decisive third game to advance to the finals. Mader will face Pignataro's in a 3-game final round beginning on Tuesday. The winner will advance to the Altoona Regional.
For more information, visit the AAABA of Buffalo website.
LIVONIA - The Rams defeated the Cobras 5-4 on Friday night in a pivotal MCBL contest. The win moves the Rams within 1.5 games of the Cobras will a week left in the season. The Rams and Cobras are the only two AAABA elligible teams in the league this season, so the higher rank in the league standings will represent Livonia in Johnstown.
For more information, visit the Michigan Rams website.