Edenton Opens Coastal Plain Playoffs, Hangs On To Nation’s No. 1 Ranking

With a 44-11 record overall, including a 25-3 mark over the second half of the Coastal Plain League schedule, the Edenton Steamers continue to hold on to the No. 1 ranking in Perfect Game’s weekly ranking of the nation’s top 35 summer-college league teams.

The Steamers have held the top spot for four straight weeks, and face the most challenging part of their season Thursday, when they begin post-season play in the CPL. Eight teams will be in the running for the Petitt Cup, with the No. 1-seeded Steamers drawing the No. 8-seed Peninsula Pilots in an opening best-of-3 series.

If the Steamers can close the deal and win the CPL championship, they stand an excellent chance of becoming the second CPL team in three years to finish atop the Perfect Game summer rankings. The Forest City Owls achieved the feat in 2009, when they went 46-9 during the regular season and ran the table in the CPL playoffs to finish at 51-9.

Edenton’s stiffest competition is still likely to come from the team that captures the Cape Cod League playoff crown, particularly if the Hyannis Harbor Hawks win out. That league’s eight-team playoffs begin Friday. The Hawks have dominated the Cape pretty much from the outset of the 2011 season, and at 28-14, easily clinched the top playoff seed in that league, which is acknowledged as the strongest summer league in the country.

Also squarely in the running for the unofficial title of the nation’s top summer-league club are the Cal Ripken League’s Bethesda Big Train and West Coast League’s Wenatchee AppleSox. Those teams are ranked 3-4 in the latest weekly rankings.

The Big Train finished its season at 36-9 by easily winning the regular-season title in the Cal Ripken League, and then swept to three straight playoff wins for its third consecutive league title. Wenatchee has also dominated the West Coast League from the start and is also in position to win its third straight West Coast title.

In the five previous years that Perfect Game has recognized the nation’s top summer league clubs, Yarmouth-Dennis of the Cape Cod League was anointed the No. 1 team in 2006 and 2007, the California Collegiate League’s Santa Barbara Foresters were tops in 2008 and the Northwoods League’s Eau Claire Express won out a year ago.

Most leagues are currently involved in post-season competition, while several more will begin play in the coming days. The Northwoods League, which doesn’t conclude its 70-game regular season until Aug. 14, is the last league to commence post-season play.

Teams from several summer leagues are currently participating in the 77^th annuial National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita. Among the participamnts are the No. 9-ranked Kenai Peninsula Oilers, champions of the AlaSKLA League; the No. 11-ranked Foresters, co-champions ofv the California Collegiate League; and No. 15-ranked St. Joseph Mustangs, champions of vthe MINK League.