Charleroi returning to Legion play as leagues merge

By JEFF OLIVER

MVI Sports

After an absence of nearly a decade, American Legion baseball is returning to Charleroi and Vets Field this summer.

Luke Mollis, a former Charleroi Legion manager and current coach of Charleroi’s high school baseball team, is resuming the Charleroi program in legion ball for obvious reasons.

“(The high school) team was loaded with freshmen and sophomores and I just wanted our kids to have a place to play this summer,” said Mollis. “We haven’t had legion or Colt baseball team for about seven years or so and this year we will have teams at both levels.

“A couple of my younger kids will play both, but we definitely have enough for each team and I’m kind of excited to see how we progress.”

While Charleroi Post 22 will be returning to legion ball, it certainly won’t be your father’s Fayette County American Legion League for sure.

That’s because the Fayette and Allegheny South leagues have merged into one 10-team league with two divisions.

One division will compose Charleroi, Belle Vernon, Smithfield, Carmichaels and Waynesburg. The other division will have Elizabeth, South Allegheny, Baldwin, Bethel Park, Baldwin and Uniontown.

Teams will play squads in their division two times and outside the division once with the season starting Friday.

“I’m not sure what they were thinking when they split divisions since Elizabeth and Belle Vernon are only 10 minutes away and Uniontown will certainly have some long trips to make,” said Mollis. “But, the most important thing is we will be playing baseball. I just hope it is all competitive.”

To read the rest of the story, please see a copy of Tuesday’s Mon Valley Independent, call 724-314-0035 to subscribe or subscribe to our online edition at http://monvalleyindependent.com.