Youth baseball in the Waynesboro area began back in April. The regular season is in the rear view mirror, and Waynesboro Youth League and Pen Mar Youth League are entering the second season – tournament season.
Waynesboro Youth League is still finishing up the Major Division championship series, which will see American Legion face off against Waynesboro Construction for the title in a best-of-three series starting Monday at the Clayton South field.
Pen Mar Youth League, which is affiliated with Little League International, will host the Junior (13-14 year olds) and Senior (13-16) District 14 tournaments as well as the Senior Sectional tournament.
District 14 consists of teams from Adams, Cumberland, Franklin and York counties.
All games will be played at Pine Hill Recreation Area.
Justin Biser, the president of the WYL, announced recently that he will step away from managing at the youth league level.
“After 12 or 13 years, it’s time to move on,” said Biser, who said he will continue in some capacity to volunteer his time for activities such as field maintenance. “I’ve enjoyed my time here, and I’ve loved to see the kids grow as players and people.”
Waynesboro Construction manager Travis Carbaugh, another veteran coach in the league, will also “retire” from managing at the youth level.
Wacco secured the top spot before the end of last week. American Legion had to play in a one-game playoff against Owls, who won last Wednesday and Legion beat Eagles on Thursday to force the playoff game. American Legion won that game 6-3, and Biser and Carbaugh got their wish that dated back to before the season started.
“We’ve been in this league together; we’ve been friends since high school. We’re on the board together – he’s the commissioner and I’m the president. We said at the beginning of the season that it would be nice to play against each other in the championship series,” said Biser. “It’s kind of funny that it worked out the way it did. We’ll see who pulls it out.”
Game one is scheduled for Monday at 7 p.m. Game 2 is Tuesday at 7. Game 3, if necessary, will be Wednesday at 7.
“We had to push everything back a week because of all the rainouts,” Biser said. “We decided to make it three games instead of five. Plus, we’re trying to get the tournament team going.”
Biser said the 8U and 10U teams will compete in the Cal Ripken tournaments, while the 12U team will not be competing in the postseason.
“Travis is the manager of the 12U team, and he asked me to help him,” Biser said.
The last season Waynesboro’s 12U team played in the Cal Ripken tournaments was 2019. That team went on to play in the World Series in California.
“Cal Ripken kind of went away from 46-60 to 50-70,” Biser said. “Our fields are too small for it. It would be hard for us to host it. I can’t go any farther back because of the alley. I would have to cut out the hill and expand the field back, and we just couldn’t do that.”
Biser also said that WYL is bringing back the Boro Classic, a tournament for local teams from this area and beyond.
“We invite any local teams from all around,” he said. “We’ve had them come from Virginia before and West Virginia. One year we had a team from Delaware. It’s a round robin tournament.”
The schedule for the Little League District 14 tournaments is as follows:
District 14
Senior
June 20, Greencastle vs. Pen Mar, 6 p.m.
June 21, Greencastlie vs. Pen Mar, 6 p.m.
June 22, Greencastle vs. Pen Mar, 6 p.m. (if necessary)
Senior Sectional (Districts 23 and 28)
July 2, District 23 vs. District 28, 1 p.m.
July 3, Winner Game 1 vs. District 14, 2 p.m.
July 4, Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 1 p.m.
July 5, Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 3, 6 p.m.
July 6, Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 4, 6 p.m. (if necessary)
Junior District 14
July 8, Greencastle vs. Pen Mar, 6 p.m.
July 9, Greencastle vs. Pen Mar, 1 p.m.
July 11, Greencastle vs. Pen Mar, 6 p.m. (if necessary)
