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The Troy Post 70 baseball team will be hosting its annual Post 70 Summer Classic in Troy June 21-23 featuring teams from four different states.

A total of eight teams will be competing in the Summer Classic. Along with Post 70, other teams include Shelby County Post 555, Huntsville Post 237 and the Alabama Outlaws from Ozark. Additionally, the Belleview Post 284 and Perdido Bay Post 240 from Florida will be competing along with Tupelo Post 49 from Mississippi and Shelby Post 82 from North Carolina.

Teams will be broken up into a Maroon Pool and Black Pool. Troy, Shelby County, Belleview (Fla.) and Shelby (NC) will compete in the Black Pool, while Tupelo (Miss.), Huntsville, Perdido Bay (Fla.) and the Alabama Outlaws will compete in the Maroon Pool.

The games will be played at both Troy University’s Riddle-Pace Field and Charles Henderson High School, while Pike Liberal Arts School will also host some 17U teams, as well.

“With Legion Ball it’s a wide scale of teams from all across the nation and in Alabama we have 12 Legion teams, which is growth from the last couple of years, and makes it mean that much more if you win the state tournament,” Post 70 coach Ross Hixon said. “We’re in a regional with the State of North Carolina and Florida this year. We’re not in there with Mississippi anymore but Tupelo is a program we’ve always run into at regionals in the past. You want to get together a collection of regional caliber teams to come play at this point in the year, that way your team can see what the future may hold and the caliber of teams you may run into. We love Legion Ball because you have to win to keep playing as the season goes on. To get to the end you have to win, similar to a high school or college setting. It’s about having team goals, not just individual goals.”

While most of the teams in the tournament are programs Post 70 has played in the past – whether during the state tournament or regionals – the team from Shelby, NC will be a new opponent. Shelby is the host location of the American Legion World Series, which Troy Post 70 has competed in the last two years. They have not yet faced Shelby Post 82 yet, however.

While getting Wiregrass athletes featured on Post 70 ready for what could lie ahead in state, regional or even World Series competition is a big plus for the tournament, it’s also a plus for the community as a whole.

“We have seven total (19U) teams coming in plus a couple of 17U teams tagging along. So, what that does is obviously they have to eat and they have to stay somewhere and that benefits everyone locally,” Hixon said. “What I like to do is to send out a pamphlet introducing the teams to Troy and some of the local spots to eat and things like that. We want to do anything we can to help them and to also push business to our local restaurants and other businesses. I won’t say it’s huge for the local economy but it’s definitely a positive one and I believe anything positive is beneficial.”

Games start on Friday, June 21, at 5 p.m. as Post 70 hosts Shelby County at Riddle-Pace Field, while Huntsville Post 237 plays the Alabama Outlaws at CHHS. At 7:30 p.m., Shelby Post 82 will play Belleview Post 284 at Riddle-Pace Field and Tupelo Post 49 played Perdido Bay Post 240.

Games continue on June 22 as Troy plays Shelby (NC) at 10 a.m. at Riddle Pace along with Huntsville facing Perdido Bay at CHHS. At 12:30 p.m., Tupelo plays the Alabama Outlaws at Riddle-Pace, while Shelby County plays Belleview at CHHS. At 3 p.m., the Alabama Outlaws will play Perdido Bay at Riddle-Pace and Shelby County meets Shelby (NC) at CHHS. The final games of the pool play will see Huntsville meet Tupelo at 5:30 p.m. at Riddle-Pace, while Troy plays Belleview at CHHS.

Bracket play will begin on June 23. The two seeds from each pool will meet at 9:30 a.m. at Troy University, while the four seeds play at CHHS. The one seeds will play each other at 11:45 a.m. at Riddle-Pace, while the three seeds play at CHHS.