Gov. Tom Wolf has placed Butler County in the green phase.

For the Butler County Area Baseball League, that means go. And the league's organizers aren't wasting any time.

The county officially moves into the green phase Friday. The league's 10 managers will finalize a 13-game regular season schedule at a meeting Sunday and BCABL games may begin as early as Monday.

The BCABL — consisting of players ages 15-19 — normally consists of an 18-game schedule.

“We decided to split the league into two five-team divisions,” league president and Cranberry Township manager Larry Stelitano said. “We've got six weeks to play 13 games. That should enable everyone to play Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday games, our normal game dates, if they wish.”

Each team will play the other four in its own division twice, the teams in the other division once. The two division champions will be the top two seeds for the league's double-elimination postseason tournament.

The No. 1 seed will be the team that defeated the other division champion head-to-head.

The Blue Division will have Mars, East Butler, West Sunbury, Butler Township and Cranberry. The Red Division will house Freeport, Karns City, Pine-Richland, Center Township and Saxonburg.

BCABL's roster limit is typically 18 players. That will be expanded to 24 players this year.

“There's no Palomino ball this year and some Colt Leagues aren't playing,” Stelitano said. “If kids are looking for somewhere to play ball this summer, we want to offer them that opportunity.”

Expanded rosters may help the league's pitching situation as well. With no high school season, pitching arms are not stretched out like they would be under normal circumstances at this time of year.

Mars is returning to the BCABL after a two-year absence. West Sunbury is back after a one-year hiatus.

“We're just excied to be playing baseball again,” Mars manager Larry Fox said. “This is a bit of a return to normalcy.

“We'll use common sense when it comes to pitching. Pitchers won't be able to throw their usual amount of innings, at least not right away.”

West Sunbury manager Matt Williams said he will have a young team and doesn't expect to have more than 12 players on the roster.

“I don't see that changing,” he said. “We'll limit our kids to two or three innigs of pitching in a game. We're going to have our pitchers and catchers get together and start working out right away, just to get loosened up.”

Defending league champion Butler Township figuires to have 12 players, manager Tyler Friel said.

“We use Colt League call-ups when we need them,” Friel said. “I've got four starting pitchers coming back, but just about everybody will be called on to throw an inning or two.”

UPMC has come up with a Youth Sports Playbook which recognizes the most up-to-date guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Topics covered include social disancing, equipment sanitization, personal protective equipment, practice and competition tactics and illness protocols.

Stelitano said the league will adhere to CDC recommendations.

“Safety will always come first,” he said.

Expanded dugout areas will allow for proper social distancing during games. Handshakes and high-fives will not be permitted.

The league has canceled its all-star game for the year.

“That's the one event that would likely draw over the 250-person limit for a gathering,” Stelitano allowed.

The BCABL will present three $1,000 scholarships to players in their final seasons. Those scholarships will be presented to the selected players prior to his team's first postseason game.

The BCABL Tournament will be an eight-team, double-elimination event. The bottom four teams in the standings will have a one-game “play-in” game to get in. The seventh-place team will host the 10th-place team, the eighth-place team hosting the ninth-place squad. Those games will be played July 19.

The tournament will begin July 21 and is scheduled to end by Aug. 1.

“We'll use the regular season games to position ourselves, and our pitching, for the tournament,” East Butler manager Paul Patten said. “That's pretty much what everybody does.”

Any players wishing to join the Butler County Area Baseball League this season may contact these coaches in their respective areas:Center Township — Jerome Oliver 724-496-2222 (jeromeoliver@icloud.com), Bill Gahagan (cheriegahagan@yahoo.com)Cranberry — Larry Stelitano 724-553-4409 (larsstel@hotmail.com, Matt Baic 724-584-2656 (shakebaic@yahoo.com)East Butler — Paul Patten 724-496-8037 (pattenpaul88@gmail.com)Freeport — Joe Hotalski 412-352-8120 (hotalski@consolidated.net), Rich Stewart 724-882-0589Karns City — Mike Weigle 724-822-3690 (mweigle09@gmail.com), Shawn Pistorious 724-290-3119 (rsp911@embarqmail.com)Butler Township — Tyler Friel 724-712-3389 (tjf151@gmail.com), Matt Piroch 412-551-0535 (fpiroch@aol.com)Saxonburg — Pete McMillan 412-999-4000 (peterbmc@zoominternet.net)Pine-Richland — Brad Ansell 724-612-6778 (bansell89@gmail.com)West Sunbury — Matt Williams 724-496-5864 (mathew.williams@sru.edu)Mars — Larry Fox 724-316-5370 (larrytfox@aol.com)