Legion Baseball Winter Meeting Results 2014

The 2015 Legion Baseball season will try to imitate what the Wyoming High School Activities Association does for it's classifications.

What this also means, if that the 'A' League State Champ, will have an opportunity to become the 'AA' State champs.

Wyoming Legion Baseball coaches have formatted the 2015 and 2016 seasons, and made it in a way so that there would be an 8-team 'AA' state tournament, which is required under National Legion Rules.

The idea was brought up by Gillette Roughriders Coach, Nate Perleberg.

Similar to how the Wyoming High School Activities Association uses school enrollment numbers to determine which school is in what class in the other various sports, Wyoming Legion Baseball will use the enrollment of the schools in each Legion Baseball city/town, to determine which teams will play 'AA' and which will play 'A'.

Some teams like Cheyenne and Casper, have more than 1 school to draw players from, and other teams draw players from other cities/towns.

If a team draws players from another high school city/town, that does not have a Legion Baseball team, then the enrollment of that school gets added on to the one that the team mainly draws on.

An example would be Jackson, which occasionally draws players from Star Valley and Pinedale, and the latter 2, don't have legion baseball teams.

Cheyenne will host the 'AA' Northwest Regional Tournament in 2015 and 2016, which will be played the weekend after the state 'AA' Tournament.

Post 6 gets an automatic bid, and a 2nd team gets to go as well.

Normally it would be the Wyoming State Champ, but if Post 6 is the state champ, then the state runner-up gets to go.

Perleberg says he is stressing the importance of having an 8-team state 'AA' tournament, something which hasn't happened for a few years.

"It's almost like a slap in the face to have 4 or 5 teams in the state tournament, when we're hosting the Regionals in Cheyenne, 1 week later. Nationals kind of mandates that it's an 8-team state tournament. We've been getting away with it for a few years, and I think it kind of gives Wyoming a bad name, and I really wanted to try to get that 8 teams up there in the AA."

Coaches ended up deciding that 7-teams will compete at 'AA', and then the 'A' State Champ will get to compete at the 'AA' State Tournament.

As a result, the 'AA' and 'A' State Tournaments will be held on separate weekends, with 'A' having their state tournament first.

Having the 'A' State Champ play in the 'AA' State Tournament, will ensure that the 'A' State Champ doesn't pickup 1 week of rust, waiting in between the 'A' State Tournament, and the 'A' Northwest Regional Tournament.

'AA' will split into East and West Divisions and teams will play 1 9-inning contest vs. teams within their divisions, on the last week of the regular season (July 20-26), to determine seeding for the 'AA' State Tournament.

The East will be comprised of Cheyenne Post 6, the Laramie Rangers, the Gillette Roughriders and the Sheridan Troopers.

The West will consist of the Casper Oilers, Rock Springs Archie Hay Post 24, and the Jackson Giants.

At the 'AA' State Tournament, the 'A' State Champ, will automatically take the west #4 spot, and will play the East Champ in the first round.

If the 'A' State Champ ends up being one of the qualifiers for the 'AA' Northwest Regional Tournament, then another team will represent Wyoming at the 'A' Northwest Regional Tournament.

As for 'A', 13-15 teams will play at that level, depending on if Rock Springs and/or Laramie can put another team together.

Teams will play home and away double-headers within their divisions, to determine seeding for district tournaments.

'A' Northeast: Douglas Cats, Wheatland Lobos, Gillette Rustlers, Casper Drillers.

'A' Southeast: Torrington Tigers, Rawlins Generals, Cheyenne Hawks, 2nd Laramie team??? (TBA)

'A' Northwest: Cody Cubs, Powell Pioneers, Lovell Mustangs

'A' Southwest: Riverton Raiders, Green River Knights, Evanston Outlaws, 2nd Rock Springs team??? (TBA).

Post-Season Schedule:

July 15-17: 'A' District Tournaments. North at Wheatland, South at Rawlins.

July 21-24: 'A' State Tournament at Lovell. Lovell will have lights at their field starting in 2015. The field is behind Rocky Mountain High School in Cowley. Lovell does not get an automatic bid into the state tournament.

July 22-25: 'B' State Tournament in Casper

July 28-August 1: 'AA' State Tournament at Sheridan

August 5-9: Northwest Regional Tournaments. 'AA' at Cheyenne. 'A' at Logan, Utah.

Wyoming Legion Baseball Coaches are also in talks, about trying to put together a mid-season all-star game, but details are still being worked on.