A few area high school baseball teams will be sticking together this summer.

The 2016 Butler County American Legion baseball season gets under way today with six of the 11 teams’ rosters comprised of primarily high school players from that respective community.

Butler’s players will be dispersed among Butler City, Center Township, East Butler and Meridian.

Mars, Saxonburg (Knoch), Slippery Rock, West Sunbury (Moniteau), Valley and Kiski will basically be providing an extension of the high school season. Cranberry is the other team in the BCAL this year.

“We’re excited about the competition level this summer,” first-year West Sunbury manager Mike Jewart said. “It’s a good league and our kids should benefit from this experience.

“With some (high school) teams anticipating long playoff runs, some of these early-season games may get pushed back.”

Any legion team that will have three or more players unavailable for a scheduled game due to school commitments may postpone that game.”

Glenn Allison is the first-year manager at Slippery Rock and said his team roster will be comprised of high school juniors and seniors.

“We try to keep our kids together by age group,” Allison said. “Our 13 and 14-year-olds play Pony League, our 15 and 16-year-olds play Colt.

“This is going to be a fun summer, based on how balanced this league looks.”

Meridian manager Butch Master likes the idea of high school teams sticking together in the summer.

“We’ve been pushing for that,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons Valley and Kiski joined us. It heightens the competition in the league and it benefits the players and the high schools. It’s a win-win for everybody.

“East Butler has a lot of Butler (High School) players, but we’ve got a few and I like the make-up of our team. But there’s a lot of teams feeling confident going in.”

Saxonburg defeated East Butler in the tournament final last year. Eight of the 11 teams qualify for the double-elimination tournament.

“I don’t think there are any favorites this year. It’s going to be a scramble,” Butler City manager and league president Jerry Piroch said.

Piroch, entering his 13th year with Butler City, is the longest tenured manager in the league. Master, entering his 10th year at Meridian, is next in line.

Doug Culbertson is in his fifth year at Center Township. The BCAL has a number of rookie managers this season, including P.J. Lynd at Cranberry, Russ Scott at East Butler, Allison and Jewart.

“It’s good to get new coaches in the league because they bring fresh ideas with them,” Piroch said.

The BCAL has presented $1,000 scholarships to players in the league for the past nine years. Jordan Hickey of Saxonburg, Adam Voelker of Center Township and Parker Sherron of Valley received the scholarships last year.

The league may add a fourth scholarship as early as this season.

Culbertson said he will have a “solid team,” at Center Township and expects to be in the thick of things.

“We’ll be competitive with the rest,” he said. “We’ll give a good game to anybody we play.”