FREEPORT ? Previous years have shown that Fulton and Lena have been the favorites in the 13th District Legion Baseball Tournament.
Usually, Fulton ends up on top and advances.
This year, there doesn?t appear to be a consensus favorite, as each has shown weaknesses throughout the season.
?Fulton?s not the Fulton that we?re used to seeing,? Lena coach Cary Schroeder said. ?They?re much more beatable.
?Orangeville beat them, we beat them one out of two, so they?re beatable. Then there?s Hanover that?s got a good group of pitchers, and Orangeville does, too, and we have three, really. So whoever has the most solid pitching could win it.?
Lena boasts the most area talent with pitchers Evan Heer and Brandon Lizer and hitters Evan Schrader, Jack Miller and Patrick Hatfield. Hanover, which may have the best chance in the program?s history to win a district title, has Josh Crist and Trey Ertmer on the mound.
Lena and Hanover split a twin bill Wednesday and appear to be evenly matched.
Orangeville has a puncher?s chance as Sawyer Shaw shut out Hanover on Tuesday in the second game of a doubleheader. Inconsistency has been Orangeville?s Achilles? heel.
?We?ve been up and down,? Orangeville coach Bill Meier said. ?We?ve been playing better and hopefully we can put it together during the tournament.
?That?s when it counts the most.?
The double-elimination tournament will give teams a chance to bounce back from a loss and will likely reward winning teams with needed rest time between games.
Scheduling could play a role in how the tournament pans out. Unfortunately for all teams involved, as of Friday night, a tournament site, bracket and schedule remained unavailable.
?It?s a fiasco,? Schroeder said. ?We?ve put it into the hands of the state people and they?re supposed to get us a bracket and hopefully we get one soon.
?The state deputy director will be handing it out and hopefully the tournament will start Monday or Tuesday,? Meier said. ?But we don?t know yet.?
Bracket seeding has drawn the ire of area coaches in the past.
?If we were seeded, we?d play either Orangeville or Hanover,? Schroeder said. ?Fulton and Lena are tied in the league, but they might draw names out of a hat and do the brackets like they used to do.
?I can?t imagine we?ll play Fulton in the first round, but you never know.?
Joey Baskerville: 815-232-0156; jbaskerville@journalstandard.com; @Baskerville_JS
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