AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL SEASON REACHES HALFWAY POINT

SPORTSDESK - It's been cold, hot, windy, rainy, sunny, light, dark and sometimes all the above in this 2019 American Legion Baseball season. Above all, it's been very interesting and somewhat predictable all at the same time.

Let's start with the weather, shall we? We have seen people in blankets. We have seen people in little more than tank tops and short shorts. We have seen umbrellas, lots and lots of umbrellas. We have seen postponements, reschedules and think it likely we see reschedules of postponements before all is said and done. We have seen people in sunglasses. We have seen people peering through the night skies. We have seen people holding onto their seats, chairs and other sittables - attempting to keep them grounded. Did we mention rain postponements?

We have seen the Plover Black Sox race out to a first place position. We saw Wisconsin Rapids come up off the mat in Plover after trailing 5-2 to win 6-5 and match the Black Sox in first place. We saw the Antigo Red Robins win the WIAA Division 2 State Title, then we saw the team transform into the Antigo Typhoons. The Typhoons, like the Red Robins, are looking for championship status as they too are one of the one-loss trio in first place. So far...

Plover will tangle with Antigo on July 8th and Wisconsin Rapids on July 10th. Wisconsin Rapids will square up with Antigo on July 16th and the Plover matchup just mentioned. This three game carousel will go a long ways towards finding out the eventual Wisconsin Valley champion. Or maybe not...

We still have Marshfield lurking in the background, firmly in fourth place after boxing DC Everest in the ears twice on Monday in Marshfield. The Blue Devils sit at 4-5, four games out of first place. Those four games are likely too much of an uphill climb to challenge for the top spot. Yet, Marshfield has games to be played against Plover, Wisconsin Rapids and Antigo. The Typhoons, Rangers and Black Sox will all be cheering for Marshfield during those other games and if the Blue Devils can win any or all, then your guess is as good as ours on who the champ will be.

As they say, "any given day". Much of the month of July is filled with those "any given days". Our advice to you is get out of the house and cheer on your local legion team. If you can't get all the way down to the ball diamond, check zaleskisports.com for the daily broadcast schedule and watch the games. Because eventually, rain or shine, there will be a champion crowned this season. Who knows, maybe it's your team that will have weathered the weather and the tough WVC schedule and wear the championship crown.

We'll see you at the ball diamond, right after we check the weather radar.