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For the first time in many years, and perhaps for the first time ever, the Wyoming Valley American Legion League playoffs will start with the format not being double-elimination, and with six teams involved.

As the tournament starts Friday at the Pittston Area Primary Center, all but two of the teams in the league will be taking part.

In fact, all eight teams were in contention for a playoff berth entering this final week of the regular season.

“What we were running into was when we only had four teams in the playoffs, a lot of kids lost interest,” league president Jerry Ranieli said. “We’d have more forfeits and kids wouldn’t show up. It’s hard to keep kids interested this time of year with graduations and vacations and things like that. This format kept all the teams involved right to the last game.”

League representatives voted on the new format in the offseason. A motion was made and ultimately passed before the season started, and Ranieli said that since there was so much success this season, the format will be kept for the near future.

With that being passed, it led to a modified single-elimination tournament because the league will be represented by three participants in next weekend’s Region 5 Tournament.

When the league tournament starts Friday with fourth-seeded Greater Pittston (11-6) vs. fifth-seeded Back Mountain (5-12) at 3 p.m., the loser will be eliminated and will not be in position to fight back and take third to advance to regionals. The second game Friday features No. 3 seed Hazleton Stripes & Strikes (11-6) against No. 6 seed Plains/Wilkes-Barre (5-12).

Today’s winners advance to face the top two seeds, Mountain Post and Swoyersville, who tied with 15-2 records in the regular season. Mountain Post won a coin flip to claim the No. 1 seed, while Swoyersville is No. 2.

Swoyersville enters on a tear, having won 14 straight games. The team started off losing two of its first three games to fellow playoff teams Greater Pittston and Mountain Post with the last loss being on June 14. The only thing keeping Mountain Post from being on a 15-game win streak was a setback to Hazleton last week. Mountain Post and Swoyersville split their two games played this season.

Mountain Post will play the team seeded the lowest on Saturday at 1:30 p.m., while Swoyersville will play the first game on Saturday at 11 a.m. against the highest remaining seed.

Saturday’s winners advance to Sunday’s championship game at 3:30 p.m., while the losers from Saturday will battle it out at 1 p.m. for the league’s third seed at regionals.

Ranieli said that with three teams in regionals this year, that aided the modified single-elimination format, but it also works better this way heading into the next postseason round.

In previous years, the league playoffs ended with as few as two days before the regional starts. This year, all three entries will have four days rest before regionals. All three teams can hypothetically start their No. 1 pitcher on Sunday then be ready for the first game of regionals.

“I think it’s better for the league going into regionals this way because with the new legion pitch counts, our teams will be fresher,” Ranieli said.

Pitch counts are similar to what the high school rules are in the postseason. If a pitcher tosses fewer than 30 pitches, he can pitch again the following day. From 31 to 45 pitches, one day of rest is needed. If he throws between 46 and 60 pitches, two days of rest must be issued. From 61-80 pitches thrown, three days of rest are needed, and from 81 to 105 pitches, he must rest for four full days.

The regional tournament will also be held at the Pittston Area Primary Center starting on July 19.

Wyoming Valley American Legion League Playoffs

Friday

Game 1: Greater Pittston vs. Back Mountain, 3 p.m.

Game 2: Hazleton Stripes and Strikes vs. Plains/Wilkes-Barre, 5:30 p.m.

Saturday

Game 3: Swoyersville vs. lowest remaining seed (3, 4 or 5), 11 a.m.

Game 4: Mountain Post vs. highest remaining seed (4, 5 or 6), 1:30 p.m.

Sunday

Game 5 (third-place game): Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 1 p.m.

Game 6 (championship game): Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 3:30 p.m.

At Stake: The top three teams advance to the Region 5 Tournament starting July 19 at the Pittston Area Primary Center

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By Dave Rosengrant

For Times Leader

Wyoming Valley American Legion League Playoffs

Friday

Game 1: Greater Pittston vs. Back Mountain, 3 p.m.

Game 2: Hazleton Stripes and Strikes vs. Plains/Wilkes-Barre, 5:30 p.m.

Saturday

Game 3: Swoyersville vs. lowest remaining seed (3, 4 or 5), 11 a.m.

Game 4: Mountain Post vs. highest remaining seed (4, 5 or 6), 1:30 p.m.

Sunday

Game 5 (third-place game): Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 1 p.m.

Game 6 (championship game): Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 3:30 p.m.

At Stake: The top three teams advance to the Region 5 Tournament starting July 19 at the Pittston Area Primary Center