The Surprises keep coming

Well, we are at around the midway point of HS Baseball and Softball. Back in the pre-season, there's usually teams that have a lot of expectations like Valley West Baseball and Holy Redeemer softball who have high expectations and meet them and there are some that don't have a lot and fly under the radar. However, there are some that come out of nowhere and surprise you and there are those that come in with expectations and the team turns out to be somewhat disappointing.  Here today, I will go and put in my surprises at the midpoint of the season.


SURPRISE NO 1
This was the one team on Twitter that was outraged I didn't even put on the Top 25 and it was Wyoming Area. To be fair, when you lose your top 2 pitchers and only return 3 starters in general, chances are that outsiders aren't going to think highly of you going into the season. Wyoming Area is surprising in that they're undefeated and have looked impressive in doing so and earning the No 5 ranking in this week's countdown. They will have some tests coming up this as they play Crestwood and Valley West.


SURPRISE NO 2
Crestwood was a team I did not see coming. Their first game was a 1-0 loss to Coughlin and they had chances to potentially take the game if they got a timely hit. Then they played the next week and beat Hazleton Area and Valley West 1-0 on the road on back-to-back days. What did they do this week, you ask? They rattled off 3 straight victory to extend the winning streak to 5 and outscored their opponents 30-10. They are also in a tie for first place with Valley West. They have a tough test on Monday as they host Wyoming Area.


SURPRISE NO 3
Holy Redeemer was just a team that was gutted by graduation. If you would have told me that Redeemer would be in first place, I wouldn't have bought it. The Royals did have a No 1 in Tony Moltoris but I wasn't positive who their No 2 would be. Enter sophomore Sean Wills, who is 2-0 with an ERA of 0 with 8 strikeouts. His victories were against Nanticoke and Hanover Area and the victory against Hanover Area was a shutout. The big thing about this team is that they only have 4 seniors, and only 1 plays.


SURPRISE NO 4
When making my pre-season Top 25, I had some thoughts about putting Meyers on the list. I ultimately didn't because I wasn't sure about the pitching. Well, their strength has been their pitching thus far. They are tied for first place with Holy Redeemer. Ryan Gilgallon has turned into the ace of the Mohawks staff. He's 3-0, an ERA of 1 and 14 strikeouts.


SURPRISE NO 5
This was something that no one would see coming nor did I think it could actually happen. That something was back-to-back no-hitters by Dallas pitcher Lee Eckert. When you usually throw a no-hitter, you usually don't think it could happen again. True, he did have a bad outing against Wyoming Area but that doesn't invalidate what he accomplished. There are pitchers that are going Division 1 and might give up a hit or two but to throw a no-hitter let alone back-to-back is just a daunting task.