MARQUETTE -- The American Legion Upper Peninsula Zone tournament in Marquette will be a bit smaller than anticipated this year.
That's because four teams have been ruled ineligible because the proper paperwork was not turned in on time to the Lansing post by the June 27 deadline. Those four teams are the Menominee Red Wave, Escanaba Cubs, Gladstone Indians and Iron Mountain Golds. An appeal to the ruling was turned down Wednesday.
Most of the application process has been done online the last few years, although some paperwork still needed to be mailed downstate, and that's where confusion reigned.
A total of 19 other posts have been ruled ineligible as well. As it is, the tournament in Marquette will drop to just seven teams, mostly from the North Central U.P. posts as well as Sault Ste Marie. Four of the seven will advance out of round robin action and play for a U.P. title.
The winner advances to the Division Two state tournament in downstate Hudson. There has been talk of the four ousted U.P. teams playing a tournament amongst themselves during the zones next weekend.
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