Senior Legion teams gearing up for summer

BY KEVIN WOODRUFF

The boys of summer will be back at it again in the coming weeks as high school baseball seasons end and American Legion seasons begin.

Senior legion ball players must be between 15 and 19 years old.

Elk Lake, Blue Ridge and Montrose players will compete for the Montrose Senior Legion team, while Forest City, Lackawanna Trail, Mountain View and Susquehanna players will compete with FMS Senior Legion.

Montrose Senior Legion

The Montrose Senior Legion team coached by Dan Hackett, and assisted by Harry Ehrie looks to hit the diamond for a solid season.

Hackett said that he is hoping that the team’s core returners will put in a quality effort for Montrose.

“Hopefully we should do pretty well,” Hackett said. “We have a lot of returners, and I think we could win our district.”

He said that his four pitchers, including Elk Lake ace Holden Lunger will provide a solid defense to build from.

“We’ve got quite a good system here, with a lot of good players coming up,” Hackett said.

The Montrose Senior Legion team is comprised of Anthony Bartock, James Churco, Michael Hackett, Dale Harder, Justin Hartman, Matthew Hoh, Matthew Laubach, Matthew Lewis, Zachary Loomis, Holden Lunger, Michael Marz, Nicholas Myers, Casey O’Reilly, Michael Rapasardi, Daniel Smonds, Stephen Squires, Kory Stimmel and Matthew Wood.

Montrose plays its home games at the Montrose High School baseball field on weekdays at 5:30 p.m. and on weekends at 12 p.m.

Full schedule:

May 31, home against FMS; June 2, home against Waymart; June 4, home against Honesdale (DH); June 9, at Hawley; June 14, at West Scranton; June 18, at FMS (DH); June 25, at Waymart (DH); June 28, at Honesdale; July 2, home against Hawley.

FMS Senior Legion

The FMS Senior Legion, featuring players from Forest City, Lackawanna Trail, Mountain View and Susquehanna will be under the direction of coach Ryan McAndrew, who moved up from coaching the FMS Junior team last season.

McAndrew said that the FMS team should have a good season.

“We’ll use these games to develop the knowledge in our older kids,” McAndrew said. “And getting them some playing time in the summer.”

McAndrew said that playing Legion ball is good for everyone involved and that the players and parents are excited for the return of an FMS Senior team after its absence last season.

“Everyone involved appreciates the time it takes to put a team together,” McAndrew said. “A lot of the kids suffered last year without a senior team, and I think the high school teams weren’t as competitive because of it.”

FMS Senior Legion’s team is comprised of Jamie Wescott (Lackawanna College), Susquehanna’s Greg Price, Tom Maby and Austin Cowperthwait, Forest City’s Zach Mendoza, Mountain View’s Dylan Thomas, Colby Thomas, Jimmy O’Brien, Thor Banks, Mike Wakalowski, Scott Edwards, Karch Frantz and Nate Goodenough and Lackawanna Trail’s Tanner Holmes, Vic Rosa, Mason Mecke, Matt Aten and Bruce Benko.