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© St. Petersburg Times, published July 13, 2002
With few games left in the American Legion B season, teams are making a mad dash to the finish line. Three spots from the Northern Division are up for grabs in the eight-team regional tournament, which begins Wednesday at Lakewood Ranch.
Four teams still have a realistic shot at earning one of those berths, so for the next few days the motto is "Just win, baby."
Because of rainouts, the criteria for choosing the top three teams comes down to which teams have the most wins, regardless of whether or not they came against Legion B opponents.
After Thursday's games, Palm Harbor was looking good with a 13-4 record. Clearwater Central Catholic was 12-1 and Dunedin was 12-3. Seminole was 11-5. All four will play at least three more games, so the race is on.
"We want to get there because it will be a good experience for our younger players," Dunedin coach Tom Hilbert said. "The more games they can play together the better off they will be."
Because of vacations and commitments to other teams, Dunedin might have only 12 or 13 players available if it qualifies for the regionals, where the Falcons have been runners-up the past two years.
The winner of the regional advances to the state tournament. At state, there will be two teams from the South region, which includes Venice and Port Charlotte, and two teams from the Central region, which includes Sarasota and Bradenton. Lakewood Ranch, the host, earns an automatic bid.
Legion B is for high school players who will remain with their high school teams the next year.
Legion A, which can include players on the collegiate level, has more than a week left in its regular season. The regional tournament will be played at the Naimoli Complex in St. Petersburg, which could work out well for St. Petersburg Post 14.
Post 14 is atop the standings in the North Division, although it has never won the regional tournament.
"We've played well in the regular season before but we've never seemed to play well in the tournament," coach Joe Martin said. "Maybe this will be our year."
If players such as John Stang, Shane Riggs, Marcus Liwag, Kip Perry and Damione Morley continue to swing hot bats, Post 14 might finally break through.
Then there is the Pinellas Police Athletic League team, which has its sights set on a national championship this month. PAL played in the Junior Olympic Tournament in June and advanced to the round of 32.
But the real goal is to play well at the national tournament, which begins July27 in Fort Myers.
"We played pretty well in a very competitive tournament," PAL director Jerry Babcock said of the Junior Olympic Tournament. "But what I'm really looking at is winning the national tournament. That's really what the focus is. The rest is just getting ready for that."
PAL has a light schedule until the tournament. It plays the Sarasota Baseball Club in a Sunday doubleheader and finishes the regular season July20 against Venice.