Back on the Field
The Eagle County League has been a staple of summer baseball in Butler County for nine decades.
This year will be no different — with a few wrinkles thrown in.
The Eagle County season was supposed to start May 18, but was delayed due to COVID-19. Butler County's move into the green phase last Friday was the last step needed for play to begin.
New Castle, a new entrant, will move the number of teams in the league to eight. League president Bill Clinefelter said the goal is to have every team playing Friday.
“The Lawrence County League folded and some of the best players there came together to form a team,” said Clinefelter, who also plays for and manages Cranberry Township's squad. “Before New Castle joined, we were planning on each team playing everyone else four times, for a total of 24 games with three byes per team thrown in. Now the byes for each team will be switched to games against New Castle. Every team will play each other three times for a 21-game schedule.”
New Castle's home venue is Flaherty Field in the city of New Castle, but it will not be available to be used until July 1. In fact, there are a number of teams in the league that are scrambling to find open venues.
Mars, the defending league champion, had issues when attempting to reserve Marburger Field in Mars. The team then planned to play its home games at Pine-Richland's high school field, but that field also will not be available until July.
That is also the case with Mars' high school field, where the Mars Sliders hoped to play, the field at BC3 (home to Butler's team) and Center Township's field (where the Bootleggers play).
The only three teams in the league that will begin the season with an available field are Cranberry and the Captains, who both use Veterans Field in North Boundary Park, and Zelienople, which plays at Zelienople Community Park.
“There are stricter rules when it comes to fields that are on school grounds,” said Clinefelter. “For at least the next three weeks, we're going to have to move games around, play them when and where available.”
One option, according to Clinefelter, is to play a number of games at Zelienople Community Park.
“We could have New Castle, Mars, the Sliders ... all play home games in Zelie,” he said. “Normally, our league plays games on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. But there's going to be some flexibility. We could have games being played other days of the week.
“Once we get to July, hopefully teams can go back to their home fields. Our umpires association said they are willing to go to New Castle on a limited basis, but they urged us to have most of their games played (in Butler County).”
The league's playoff format will remain the same. The top six teams will qualify and the top two seeds will receive a bye. The first round will consist of two best-of-three series starting the last week of July, followed by the semifinal and championship round, each a best-of-five.
“At the end of April, we started talking about finding a way to salvage the season,” said Clinefelter. “We thought if we could start by July 1, we could get it in. So, we're really happy about starting in June.
“A lot of leagues have completely shut down for the summer and players are looking for a place to play. Because of that, I think teams in our league are going to see their numbers bolstered, at least for one season.”
