Darien Sr. Legion Needs Six Wins to Make Tourney

Here's the math for the Darien Senior American Legion baseball team: with nine games left in the season, it has nine wins—six short of the 15 required to qualify for the state tournament.

Darien (9-9), then, needs to play an impressive .667 ball down the stretch, but a favorable closing schedule may just give the team a fighting chance.

Its final seven contests are against some of the lower-ranked teams in Zone Four. Three games remain against Ridgefield (5-11) and Wilton (8-11) and one against Bridgeport (5-12).

Complicating matters, however, is the fact that it still has two games against first-place Greenwich (16-1), which was undefeated until Darien scored an upset, 5-3, on Tuesday.

Ideally, Darien would like to win another game against Greenwich—sweeping a nearly undefeated team might be a bit much to ask—because it would provide a small margin for error next week.

Darien would then need to go 5-2 over the final week by, for example, winning two of three against both Ridgefield and Wilton and taking the single game against Bridgeport. If Darien doesn't win another game against Greenwich, it would need a 6-1 finishing kick.

According to Connecticut American Legion rules, teams must finish at least two games over .500 to qualify for postseason play, though that figure is a bit misleading in this case.

Since Zone Four teams play an odd schedule—three games against each of nine opponents—it is mathematically impossible to finish exactly two games over .500 in the 27-game season. The only exception is if the final game is rained out and not played, as the deadline for getting all games in is July 20.

Winning the zone is important because each of the eight zone winners gain automatic entry into the 16-team state  tournament, which will be played in Torrington and South Windsor.

Through Tuesday, Greenwich was ahead of Norwalk (17-2), which has played two more games. First place in the zone will be decided next week when Greenwich and Norwalk clash.

All other qualifiers throughout Connecticut play down in a single-elimination bracket to determine the final eight participants in the state tournament.

It's been an odd year in Zone Four, which has been dominated by Greenwich and Norwalk. They may be the only teams in the zone to qualify for the postseason, though Trumbull is making a late run, having reeled off nine straight wins to get to 12-9. Otherwise, everybody is at or below .500.

Below are the standings (through Tuesday):

1. Greenwich 16-1 - Clinched postseason berth.
2. Norwalk 17-2 - Clinched postseason berth.
3. Trumbull 12-9 - Needs three wins. Remaining schedule: Westport, 3 games; Bridgeport, 3 games
4. Darien 9-9 - Needs six wins. Remaining schedule: Greenwich, 2 games; Ridgefield, 3 games; Wilton, 3 games; Bridgeport, 1 game
5. Stamford 8-8 - Needs seven wins. Remaining schedule: Bridgeport, 2 games; Fairfield, 3 games; Westport, 3 games; Ridgefield, 3 game
6. Wilton 8-11 - Needs seven wins. Remaining schedule: Westport, 2 games; Greenwich, 3 games; Darien, 3 games
7. Westport 8-11 - Needs seven wins. Remaining schedule: Wilton, 2 games; Stamford, 3 games, Trumbull, 3 games.
8. Ridgefield 5-11 - Needs 10 wins. Remaining schedule: Norwalk, 2 games; Darien, 3 games; Stamford, 3 games; Bridgeport, 3 games
9. Bridgeport 5-13 - Eliminated.
10. Fairfield 3-17 - Eliminated.