Senerchia, NEFL set to go as legion playoffs get underway this weekend

William Geoghegan
Posted 7/24/14

The Rhode Island American Legion Baseball Playoffs have been condensed to eight teams this year, but when those eight take the field this weekend, they’ll still start with a bang. On Saturday and …

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Senerchia, NEFL set to go as legion playoffs get underway this weekend

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The Rhode Island American Legion Baseball Playoffs have been condensed to eight teams this year, but when those eight take the field this weekend, they’ll still start with a bang. On Saturday and Sunday, McCarthy Field in West Warwick will host baseball marathons to open the double-elimination tourney, with four games each day, beginning at 9 a.m.

For the last few years, the legion playoffs have featured 12 teams, with a preliminary round filling out the pairings for the eight-team double-elimination event. With fewer teams in the league this year, there is no preliminary round. The eight best teams are heading straight for McCarthy.

Warwick’s two legion clubs will be among the favorites. Senerchia Post 74, Bishop Hendricken’s entry in the league, has been the top team in the state all season and will be the No. 1 seed for the playoffs. New England Frozen Lemonade/Shields Post 43 surged to the finish line and earned the No. 2 seed.

Senerchia won its first 11 games of the season before a loss to Team Stores USA/Post 22 on July 8. It then had a strong showing at the Coopers Cave Tournament in New York, making the semifinals, and has picked up where it left off in league play. Heading into Wednesday’s season finale, Senerchia had won nine in a row and had already clinched the top spot in the standings with a 20-1 record. Results of Wednesday’s game were unavailable at press time.

Senerchia will play the last game of the day on Saturday, at 6 p.m., and, even though it’s the top seed, its match-up might be deceptively tough. Cranston’s Gershkoff Auto Body/Auburn Post 20 finished as the No. 8 seed after losing its final eight games of the season. Before that, though, the perennial contender – and the 2013 state runner-up – looked like a contender again. Gershkoff was 10-4 before its late-season slide. Gershkoff lost is most recent match-up with Senerchia 12-1 but lost only 4-1 in a June 30 meeting, when the teams were the only undefeated squads in the state.

And Gershkoff knows the drill. Last season, it was the No. 9 seed and made a run all the way to the state finals. It will be looking for another surprise run this year, and an upset over Senerchia would be the perfect start.

On the flip side, Senerchia will be on alert. It was one of the victim’s in Gershkoff’s Cinderella run last year, and several members of last year’s team are the veteran leaders for this year’s squad.

Behind Senerchia in the seedings, four teams with comparable records lie wait, and NEFL will try to continue its emergence from that pack. NEFL and Collette Vacations/Post 79 both finished 13-9, R&R Construction/Post 18 went 12-9-1 and Team Stores USA/Post 22 finished 11-10-1. Along with Senerchia, they were the only teams in the league with winning records.

NEFL ended up at the top of that group thanks to eight wins in its final 10 games and five straight wins to close the season.

NEFL started its season-ending streak with a 6-2 win over Gershkoff last Friday. It swept a doubleheader with Team Stores USA on Saturday then finished with a 6-1 win over Upper Deck on Sunday and a 3-0 victory over R&R Construction in Tuesday’s season finale.

NEFL will play at 3 p.m. Saturday, and its first-round opponent will be the No. 7 seed, which was still to be determined as of Wednesday. It will be either Navigant Credit Union/ Fairmount Post 85 or South Kingstown Post 39. Navigant, the two-time defending state champ, beat NEFL twice in the regular season. NEFL swept its series with South Kingstown.

Collette Vacations is the No. 3 seed and R&R Construction is the No. 4. The fifth, sixth and seventh seeds were still to be determined.

Games begin Saturday at 9 a.m., with R&R Construction playing the No. 5 seed. Collette plays the No. 6 seed at 12 p.m., followed by the NEFL and Senerchia games. Losers of the opening-round games play at 9 a.m. and 12 p.m., on Sunday, with winner’s bracket games to follow. Action continues Monday and Tuesday, with a champion set to be crowned on Wednesday.

The Rhode Island state champion advances to the Northeast Regional in Middletown, Conn., which is scheduled to begin August 7.

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