Hall of Fame

Hempfield East Finishes 2019 Run in Illinois

The 2019 Hempfield East Post 981 club represented District 31 as well as anyone has ever. They first captured the District 31 Regular Season Championship on July 5th by defeating Derry 5-0 at Derry High School. On July 9th, they completed a Best of Three sweep of Murrysville in the District 31 Quarterfinal, beating them 4-1 and 6-0. On July 13th, they completed a Best of Three sweep of Latrobe in the District 31 Semifinal, beating them 6-0 and 10-4.

For the second consectutive season, they captured the Pennsylvania Region 7 Tournament. They opened on July 19 with a 14-4 win over Punxsutawney. They followed that with a revenge victory over Bushy Run, who defeated them for the District 31 Championship, 12-2. On day four, following a rain out, they defeated Latrobe 4-3 in the winner's bracket final, but fell to Mifflin County 7-6. On Championship Tuesday, it was Hempfield East defeating Mifflin County 8-7 to clinch the tournament and a trip to the 2019 Pennsylvania State Tournament in DuBois. 

On July 27, Hempfield East opened the state tournament with a 4-2 victory over Patton. On Sunday, they continued to stay hot with a win over South Parkland 11-5. On day three, they fell in the winner's bracket final Swoyersville 4-1. East bounced back to defeat Hopewell 6-0 to clinch their way to the 2019 Great Lakes Regional in Charleston, Illinois. They fell in the championship round to Swoyersville 2-1. 

On August 7, Post 981 opened with a loss to Lyon County (KY) 5-2 and fell to Swoyersville 4-1. It was the furthest a District 31 team has ever reached in the American Legion Post Season. Congratulations to Coach Smith and the entire program! 

2019 District 31 Showcase Results

Officials from District 31 conducted the 2019 District 31 Showcase on Wednesday 7/24 in front of college coaches from a handful of states and levels of colleges. Players were invited to run the 60 yard dash; catchers threw to 2nd base; outfielders threw from right field to home plate; infielders threw from short stop to first base; players hit; and pitchers threw a timed bullpen. All results were sent to the attending schools as well as those who RSVPed yes for the previous Wednesday 7/17, which was rained out. 

Below were some of the top performers in the tangible results areas. Players are listed by legion team and high school graduation year:

60 Times:

Ray Halahurich Yough/Yough HS '20
Luke Anderson West Hempfield JR/Hempfield Area HS '21
Cody Ulander Yough/Yough HS '20

Catcher Pop Times:

Steve Manon Yough/Yough HS '20
Eric Soccio Unity/Greater Latrobe HS '20
Tyler Porter Bushy Run/Penn Trafford HS '20

Pitcher Fastball Velocity:

Paul Koontz, Jr. Derry/Derry Area HS '21
Jake Bradish Latrobe/Greater Latrobe HS '20
Logan Gustafson Latrobe/Greater Latrobe HS '20
Ben Rafferty Latrobe/Greater Latrobe HS '20
Luke Treloar Murrysville/Franklin Regional HS '21

Hempfield East Wins Back to Back Regional Championships

In one of the best games in recent memory, Hempfield East defeated Mifflin County 8-7 in 11 innings to capture the 2019 Pennsylvania Region 7 Championship. This marks back to back champions for only the sixth time in the tournament's history. Please see the link to the Tribune Review"s article for the game: https://triblive.com/sports/hempfield-east-legion-team-wins-region-7-with-11-inning-victory/

Post 981 now advances to the Pennsylvania State Tournament beginning on Saturday morning taking on the Dauphin County and Region 4 Champion, Paxton at 10:10am at Showers Field in DuBois. Below are the full results from the Region 7 Tournament:

Friday
Hempfield East 14 Punxsutawney 4
Bushy Run 8 Mifflin County 1
Bedford 2 Beech Creek 1
Latrobe 5 Claysburg 3

Saturday
Mifflin County 9 Punxsutawney 1
Beech Creek 3 Claysburg 1
Hempfield East 12 Bushy Run 2
Latrobe 3 Bedford 0

Sunday
Beech Creek 8 Bushy Run 4
Mifflin County 5 Bedford 0
Hempfield East Latrobe, PPD

Monday
Hempfield East 4 Latrobe 3
Beech Creek 3 Latrobe 2
Mifflin County 7 Hempfield East 6

Tuesday
Mifflin County 2 Beech Creek 1
Hempfield East 8 Mifflin County 7