After being cancelled last season due to the COVID 19 pandemic, The New York State American Legion Baseball Senior Division Championship Tournament returns Saturday July 24th- Wednesday July 28th. The tournament has a new home this season as the games will be played at Cantine Memorial Field in Saugerties.  

When last we played, Hamburg Post 527 came out of the loser’s bracket winning 2 games to upset Rockland Post 130 Pirates on Championship Day. Both of these teams are returning to the tournament this year along with 4 other 2019 participants.  

Meet the teams:  

Host  

Kingston/ Saugerties Post 150/72 is the Host team for the tournament but they also were the 3rd District champion. K&S went 20-3-1 during the season including 8-1 in Legion play. They did not lose a game during their run to the 3rd District championship. The team is managed by Rich Koegel and Jerry Malgieri. 

3rd District   

The Schenectady County Indians will represent the 3rd district in this year’s tournament. The team returns for the first time since 2018 and are led by longtime coach Jim DiMidio. The Indians finished the season with a 12-9 record and were the runner up  in the 3rd district tournament . 

4th District  

The Clinton County Mariners sponsored by Post 1619 return to the tournament for the 8th consecutive time. The Mariners, led by Coach Gary Duquette went undefeated in their District Tournament and finished the season with an impressive 24-8 record including 8-0 in league play  

5th District 

Smith Post 24 returns to the tournament again this season. They went 5-1 and came out of  the loser’s bracket in the 5th district tournament defeating regular season champion  Whitestown to secure a spot in the state tournament. Smith Post, who are led by Manager Ryan Hickey, have an overall record of 14-6. 

6th District  

Oneonta Post 259 Green Wave are the 6th District Champion. Manager Mike Jester and his team went 13-3 this year including 5-1 in the district playoffs. The Green Wave, who won their division in the regular season, dropped their opening game of the playoffs and battled back out of the loser’s bracket eventually defeating Harpursville twice on championship day to claim the title. This Oneonta’s first appearance in the tournament since 2012 

7th District  

Rayson Miller Post 899 are returning for the 3rd consecutive time from the 7th District. Coach Tom Sapienza led his team to a 10-9 record this season going 3-1 in the playoffs. They defeated Doud Post to claim right to represent the district in the tournament. 

8th District  

The 2019 Champion Hamburg Post 527 are back to defend their title. While play in the 8th district just began due to the late high school season the team currently has an 8-1 record. After falling to Niagara-Orleans in the opening game of the best of 3 championship series the battled back winning the next 2 to claim the title. The team is managed by Brian Duffek.  

9th District  

Coach John Greeley brings his team to the state tournament for the 6th consecutive time. The Pirates were the 3 time defending state champion before falling in the finals in 2019. The Pirates organization has won a NYS record 12 Sr Division titles. 

This season the Pirates had a 16-7-1 overall record including 8-3 in district play. The Pirates were losing 4-1 in the 7th inning and down to their last strike in the winner take all district championship game before rallying for 3 runs in the 7th.  The Pirates  the gave up 1 in the top of the 8th again rallied for 2 runs to win the title in walk off fashion.

If you cant make it to Cantine Field be sure to follow all the action live on our YouTube channel.