BCABL suspends operations
The end was coming. Now it’s arrived.
The Butler County Area Baseball League — which replaced the Butler County American Legion League when that circuit decided to cut ties with Legion baseball — will not be playing this summer. The BCABL or BCAL had been the home for high school-age summer baseball in the county for decades.
“This is disappointing, for sure,” said Matt Baic, vice president of the BCABL. “I’ve been involved in this league for six years. It was a great league, very competitive. We awarded scholarships to players, did a lot of good things.
“But, in a way, you could see this coming.”
The league once had as many as 11 teams. Two years ago, it was down to six. Last year, the BCABL consisted of five teams and three of those were unable to field a roster for the playoffs.
Freeport and East Butler did not have enough players to put together teams this season. That left the league with Butler Township, Seneca Valley and Petrolia Valley, the latter covering the Karns City area.
“Once we were left with three teams, there wasn’t much we could do,” league secretary-treasurer and Butler Township manager Tyler Friel said. “This is a tough pill to swallow. I played American Legion ball (with Meridian) in this league. This league has been a big part of my summers for 12 years now.
“Kids are still playing summer baseball. They’re just not playing it in the form we’ve gotten used to. Now there’s so much travel ball and the Tri-State Collegiate League has taken some players.”
Friel said the league began its descent after the (2020) COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m not blaming COVID for the demise, but it became much more difficult to put teams together from that point,” he said.
Friel added that the decline in high school numbers over the past few years has played a factor.
“Butler used to have 600 to 700 high school graduates each year,” he said. “Now it’s down to around 400. Our league used to have teams in Meridian, Butler Township, Butler City, Center Township, East Butler ... There just aren’t enough kids around to support five teams like that anymore.”
The Tri-State Collegiate League has two teams from Butler along with the Freeport Vikings and East Butler Bulldogs.
“The new Freeport team did in our Freeport team,” Baic said. “Too many players opted to play for the new team. It’s the shiny new object thing. The players were more attracted by that.”
One positive sidelight to the BCABL not playing is that two of its organizations — Butler Township and Seneca Valley — put together teams and joined the Eagle County League, the long-time semi-pro baseball circuit in the area. Friel, who is also Slippery Rock High School’s head baseball coach, helped organize a Slippery Rock team that is joining that league as well.
The Eagle County League was down to three teams — Cranberry, the Mars Sliders and Zelienople — before doubling in size. Mars, the Captains (based in Cranberry) and Saxonburg opted not to return this year.
“You hate to see any league fold up like that,” Eagle County president Bill Clinefelter said. “I guess there’s a good and bad side to it. We picked up three new teams and that will help us through this year.
“These leagues are year-to-year anymore. We may go the other way next year, get a couple more teams that want to join ... you never know which way its gonna go.”
“That league was in trouble and we talked with Bill about entering the league,” Friel said. “Now that league is on more stable ground.”
In the meantime, the future of the BCABL remains in doubt.
“We’ve suspended operations,” Baic said. “We’re keeping our accounts open. I’d love to say otherwise, but I don’t see the league ever coming back.”
