Prospect is out. Saxonburg is in. Five of the nine teams have first-year managers and only six teams will make the tournament.

Mark 2010 as a year of transition for the Butler County American Legion Baseball League.

Butler City, Center Township, Cranberry Township, East Butler, Mars, Meridian, Saxonburg, West Sunbury and Zelienople comprise the league this season.

Only Jerry Piroch with Butler City, Carl Hays with East Butler, Bill Trapp with Mars and Butch Master with Meridian return as managers.

New managers include George Rader at Center Township, Mark O'Connor at Cranberry Township, Ed Beacom at Saxonburg, Ray Pflugh at West Sunbury and Nick Eppinger at Zelienople.

Karns City was to be a 10th team, but no one was available to run the program.

"They had 11 kids signed up and probably would have gotten more," Piroch said. "Now those kids are released and eligible to play for the next closest venue."

League play begins Tuesday and Piroch, in his sixth year at Butler City, is the new dean of coaches in the BCAL. Eppinger replaces Tom Schneider, who stepped down after his 20th season with Zelienople last year.

"We have a lot of new faces running teams, but a few of us have been around for a little while now," Master said. "The league still has stability."

The regular season is scheduled to end June 24. Playoffs must be completed by July 10.

Master said the frantic conclusion to the BCAL Tournament last year prompted the decision to scale back its qualifiers to six teams.

"So many games had to be played in such a short period of time that everyone ran out of pitching," he said. "The championship game was something like 19-12, and that was two good teams playing each other."

East Butler is the defending BCAL champion, but has lost its top two pitchers, Greg Hays and Nick Rossmiller, as well as its starting shortstop and catcher.

"Next year could be one of the best teams we've ever had here, but this year may be a building process toward that," Carl Hays said.

Meridian went undefeated through much of last season, but returns only a handful of players.

"We'll have to be a lot more creative this year in how we score runs," Master said.

Saxonburg returns to the BCAL after a two-year absence. Beacom has a son, Cody, on the team and has coached Mid-County Colt and Pony baseball in recent years.

"Saxonburg had a bunch of older kids who wanted to play Palomino ball this year," Beacom said. "We have enough younger kids to put together two teams in the community.

"We decided to join Legion because travel is so much easier. We have one 18-year-old, but I think we can compete. With pitching we might get in trouble, but our talent is OK."

Mars has 11 players returning as Trapp enters his third year as manager.

"I'm looking forward to coaching against some of these new guys," Trapp said. "No one's quite sure how the season is going go."

Region 8 all-star tryouts will be held in Clarion June 6. Every team in the region is required to send at least three players to the tryouts.

No all-star game will be played at the tryouts.

"Major League Baseball has recommitted itself to Legion baseball and will have plenty of scouts on hand," Piroch said. "MLB is kicking in a few thousand dollars to every Legion baseball league."

Any team that doesn't have at least three players at the all-star tryouts will have to pay a $50 fine for each player who does not show up. The team won't be eligible for postseason play, either.

Each team must have at least 12 active players to advance to regional or state playoff competition as well.

AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL

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Butler County LeagueTeam BallparkButler City HighfieldCenter Twp. Pullman ParkCranberry Twp. Cranberry Community ParkEast Butler Speed-O FieldMars CalleryMeridian Pullman ParkSaxonburg Laura Doerr ParkWest Sunbury West Sunbury City FieldZelienople Zelienople Community Park