The Lehigh Valley Carpenter Cup baseball team announced its roster last week as the team gears up to open the tournament on Thursday against Burlington County at Richie Ashburn Field.

Three Times News area players all from Pleasant Valley made the squad. The Bears will be represented by seniors Chris Burke and James Shank and junior Nick Domenici.Parkland leads the roster with five players featuring seniors Zach Merkle, Gabe Mosser and Chris Rabasco. Juniors Connor Higgins and Jeff Strisovsky round out the Parkland faithful.For the first time in tournament history, the tournament restricted rosters to a maximum of 12 seniors, which made for some tough decisions for general manager J.F. Pirro."We had to let a good number of quality seniors who were dedicated to the tryout process go," Pirro said.In addition to the Pleasant Valley and Parkland players, the roster of 25 players also includes seniors Anthony Rodriguez (Wilson), Nick Oyer (Prn Argyl), Devon LaBarre (Pen Argyl), PJ Van Orman (Stroudsburg), Dan Lloyd (Central Catholic), Pat Mergel (Bethlehem Catholic), Ryan Hunt (Pen Argyl) and Bruce Breithaupt (Stroudsburg).The junior class of players is comprised of Jon Cintron (Wilson), Jacob Meyers (Whitehall), Mike Mittl (Liberty), Phil Pierfy (Wilson), Luke Hohenstein (Pocono Mountain East), Zach Luke (Notre Dame) and Logan Steidinger (Liberty.Two sophomores made the final cut as well, as Jake Kochmansky (East Stroudsburg South) and Gianni Sinatore (Whitehall) are the youngest players on the team.The Lehgh Valley squad hopes to reach the finals, as they did a year ago before falling in the championship, which will be held on June 20 at Citizens Bank Park.******Five players from the Times News area have been named to the 2014 Lehigh Valley Carpenter Cup softball team.Pleasant Valley's Madison Shaneberger and Brittney Bonser, Northern Lehigh's Amber Thomas and Taylor Herman, and Palmerton's Kendra Pekurny are on the LV roster.The team is comprised of high school softball players from the Colonial League, The Lehigh Valley Conference and the Mountain Valley Conference who will play in the Carpenter Cup Classic, a softball tournament sponsored by the Philadelphia Phillies.The tournament gives players from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware exposure to college coaches."I think the [returning players] will be able to show us the ropes a little bit, so it won't be as confusing to the newbies," said Pekurny, who is on the team for the first time."I think it's a great way to get my name out there, it's a good experience, and there will be good competition," said Pekurny, who will be one of the team's pitchers.The Lehigh Valley team will take on the team from Berks County when the tournament opens on Monday, June 23 at FDR Park in Philadelphia."I'm looking forward to playing with the new girls and just seeing all the different competition out there," said Pekurny.