The Stretch Run

Well, we are almost at the end of the regular season. In about 3 weeks, the District tournament starts for baseball and softball. Today, I will be breaking down each classification and putting in my own comments on how it might break down. Well, here we are, the breakdown of the standings.


4A Baseball
1 West Scranton 6-0
2 Delaware Valley 6-0
3 Williamsport 3-0
4 Valley West 7-1
5 Wallenpaupack 5-1
6 Hazleton Area 3-4
7 Scranton 1-8


4A looks very strong when it comes down to it. Most years, you would think of a team at 5-1 as potentially at the top of the bracket. Not in the case of Valley West and Wallenpaupack, who are the 4 and 5 seeds respectively. Valley West however is leading their division so they can very easily be a 3 seed, but that depends on how Williamsport does. Wallenpaupack still has a chance for the division with them still having to play Delaware Valley in a 3 game set in the last week of the regular season. West Scranton is the surprise of the 4A bracket, with them leading their division and being undefeated. They have Scranton Prep and Valley View that will challenge them and the series between the Invaders and Cougars can be for the Division crown.


4A Softball
1 Hazleton Area 8-0
2 Delaware Valley 5-2
3 Valley West 4-3
4 Williamsport 3-2
5 Scranton 5-4
6 Wallenpaupack 3-4


The Cougars of Hazleton Area look like the team to beat in 4A.  It would be an upset of any team were to knock them off. The most likely team to beat them might be Delaware Valley or Valley West. Valley West did knock off Nanticoke earlier this season so I could see a possibility of the Spartans beating Hazleton. This looks like an interesting bracket other than Hazleton. Only one team has an under .500 record and that's Wallenpaupack.


3A Baseball
1 Valley View 6-0
2 Wyoming Area 7-1
3 Crestwood 5-4
4 Dallas 4-4
5 Abington Heights 4-5
6 Honesdale 4-5
7 Berwick 4-5
8 Lake-Lehman 3-4
9 Coughlin 3-6
10 North Pocono 3-6
11 Pittston Area 3-6
12 Tunkhannock 2-6
13 Scranton Prep 1-5
14 Western Wayne 0-6


Valley View has probably the best pitcher in the league in Virginia commit, Max Kranick. He has had several professional scouts at his games. The biggest surprise is potentially Wyoming Area leading their division and are at 7-1 and the closest to them is 4-4 Dallas. Crestwood last week was the 3 seed and even though they lost 3 this past week, they are still the 3 seed at 5-4. Abington Heights got swept by West Scranton this week, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if Abington Heights stole a victory from Valley View this week. The 3A tournament could be very different come next week dependent on how each team does.


3A Softball
1 Abington Heights 9-0
2 Nanticoke 6-1
3 Tunkhannock 6-1
4 North Pocono 7-2
5 Valley View 4-3
6 Wyoming Area 5-4
7 Pittston Area 4-4
8 West Scranton 3-4
9 Berwick 3-4
10 Crestwood 3-5
11 Dallas 2-5
12 Honesdale 2-7
13 Scranton Prep 1-6
14 Lake-Lehman 1-7
15 Western Wayne 0-7
16 Coughlin 0-8


Give a tossup on the top 6 in 3A at this point because I think all 6 could take a District title. Abington Heights looks really good at 9-0 leading Lackawanna League Division 1 and Nanticoke won the District title a year ago, getting all the way to the State Semifinals. Tunkhannock is one of the youngest teams in the league but they've looked nothing like it. Valley View is a power in softball, winning a State Title in 2012 and were the top seed a year ago til Nanticoke defeated them. Wyoming Area got as far as the District Semifinals before falling to Berwick.


2A Baseball
1 Holy Cross 8-0
2 Lakeland 6-0
3 Holy Redeemer 9-1
4 Montrose 7-1
5 Meyers 7-2
6 Northwest 7-3
7 Mid Valley 4-2
8 Hanover Area 4-4
9 GAR 4-5
10 Mt View 3-4
11 Riverside 3-5
12 Wyoming Seminary 3-6
13 Dunmore 2-6
14 Nanticoke 2-8
15 Carbondale 0-6


Holy Cross and Lakeland face off this week with potentially the division on the line. Holy Redeemer, Meyers and Northwest are all fighting for the division crown. Also do not count out Montrose, who plays in Division 4 of the Lackawanna League and is the defending district champions.


2A Softball
1 Montrose 8-0
2 Holy Redeemer 8-0
3 Mid Valley 6-0
4 Hanover Area 7-1
5 Riverside 7-1
6 Holy Cross 6-2
7 Lakeland 4-2
8 Northwest 5-3
9 Elk Lake 4-3
10 Wyoming Seminary 4-4
11 Meyers 2-5
12 Dunmore 1-7
13 Carbondale 0-6
14 GAR 0-8


3 teams in the classification are undefeated, including defending 2A State champion, Holy Redeemer. The Lady Royals look like the team to beat in 2A at this point.


A Baseball
1 Blue Ridge 4-2
2 Forest City 4-2
3 Elk Lake 3-4
4 Lackawanna Trail 2-4
5 Old Forge 1-5
6 MMI 1-8
7 Susquehanna 0-6


Much like last year, it looks as though it will come down to Blue Ridge and Forest City for the District Title in Single-A.


A Softball
1 Lackawanna Trail 5-1
2 Mt View 4-3
3 Susquehanna 2-4
4 MMI 1-6
5 Blue Ridge 0-6
6 Old Forge 0-6
7 Forest City 0-6


It looks as though Lackawanna Trail might be the favorite for the District title, followed by Mountain View.