An all-Greene County series highlights the opening round of the Fayette County Baseball League playoffs that begin Thursday evening and proceed until a champion is crowned.

The league battled weather the last few weeks in an effort to complete a regular-season schedule of 24 games for each of the league's seven teams. Playoffs were originally scheduled to begin last Sunday, but had to be pushed back, first to Tuesday, then to Thursday.

Bud Murphy's won the regular-season championship and a first round bye with a record of 18-3-2. Both of those ties and at least one of the losses came against second-place finisher Blue Mountain, a team coached by Richard Krause that pays its home games at Carmichaels High School.

Blue Mountain fashioned a 16-6-2 record to lock into second place. The Copperheads will host a best-of-three series beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday against Watson & Sons, another Greene County entry, coached by Ron Falcon, that plays its home games at Jefferson-Morgan's high school field.

Watson & Sons finished its second County League schedule with a 4-19-1 record, behind Pasta Lorenzo, a team that plays its home games at Doug Dascenzo Field in Republic.

The league's other three teams were in a battle for playoff positioning that carried through most of the week. Mitch's Bail Bonds, from the Mon Valley area; G.K. Realty, which plays its home games at Hutchinson Park in Hopwood; and Mill Run battled for spots three, four and five in the playoff pecking order. The third-place team was to host Pasta Lorenzo and the fourth-place team would host the fifth-place finisher.

All three series, including the Watson & Sons at Blue Mountain affair, are best-of-three events scheduled for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, if necessary. Winners advance to the best-of-five league semifinals and semifinal winners meet in a best-of-seven championship series with the higher remaining seed earning home field advantage.

If Blue Mountain can advance past Watson & Sons, the Copperheads would host the lowest remaining seed in the semifinals.

If Watson & Sons pulls off an upset over the Copperheads, Watson & Sons would play at Bud Murphy's Breakneck Field in Connellsville in the opener of the semifinals.