The second season — playoff season — is about to commence for Centre County softball and baseball teams, and District 6 has already released the pairings for many of the brackets for both tournaments. The only pairings not released yet are in 5A and 6A baseball.
In all, there are nine local teams gearing up to play in this year’s D6 championships — four in softball and five in baseball. The softball teams include Philipsburg-Osceola, Bald Eagle Area, Bellefonte and State College, and the baseball teams are P-O, Bellefonte, Bald Eagle, State College and St. Joseph’s.
Every year, the playoffs mark new beginnings for teams, and there are always upsets, surprises and Cinderella teams coming out of nowhere and causing big trouble.
There is no reason to think this year will be any different.
Here’s a look at some of the early matchups:
AAA SOFTBALL
■ No. 8 Tyrone (8-11) at No. 1 Philipsburg-Osceola (17-1)
At Philipsburg, Monday, May 21, 4 p.m.
Tyrone comes into this game with two shutout wins in its last four games. The Lady Eagles beat Penns Valley, 5-0, on May 3, and then Williamsburg, 9-0, on May 8. The losses came at the hands of Bellefonte and then to PV, this time in extra innings, May 10.
Unfortunately, Tyrone also lost twice to P-O and failed to score a run in either game.
The Eagles will be looking to improve on that, but top-seeded P-O has been excellent all season and will certainly be aiming to start the 2018 playoffs with a typically solid effort.
■ No. 7 West Shamokin (10-5) at No. 2 Bald Eagle Area (12-3)
Milesburg Little League, Monday, May 21, 4 p.m.
West Shamokin was in the thick of the Heritage Conference standings battle all season and enters the playoffs winning eight of its last 10 games.
The list of teams the Wolves beat in that stretch includes Penns Manor, Blairsville, Northern Cambria, Marion Center and Purchase Line.
West Shamokin can put up runs. The Wolves went into double-digits eight time this season and twice went over 15 runs.
This team had a .344 batting average, stole 42 bases, and had an on-base percentage of .422.
BEA, after a bit of a slow start this season, came back nicely and had big wins over both P-O and Bellefonte. And year in, year out, BEA always seems to save its best for the playoffs.
This game shapes up as one of the best in the first round.
AAAA SOFTBALL
■ Winner of No. 2 Somerset (11-3) vs. No. 3 Greater Johnstown (8-5) at No. 1 Bellefonte (15-3)
St. Francis University, Wednesday, May 23, TBA
Bellefonte was set back just three times this season — twice by P-O and a nine-inning loss to BEA on May 10 — but other than those games, the Lady Raiders were dominant.
Now moving into the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in AAAA, Bellefonte will automatically play for the D6 championship against either Somerset, a good team at No. 2, or Greater Johnstown. Either way, with a spot in the PIAA tournament on the line, the Raiders will be taking nothing for granted.
AAAAAA SOFTBALL
■ Winner of No. 3 Altoona (0-15) vs. State College (6-11) at No. 1 Mifflin County
St. Francis University, Wednesday, May 23, TBA
A BASEBALL
■ Winner of No. 7 Ferndale (6-9) at No. 2 SJCA (9-2) vs. winner of No. 6 Blacklick Valley (6-9) at No. 3 Juniata Valley (12-4)
Semifinals at higher seed, Friday, May 18, TBA
AAA BASEBALL
■ Play-in game: Winner No. 9 P-O (7-9) vs. No. 8 Central (6-8) at No. 1 Huntingdon (17-1)
Huntingdon, May 15
■ No. 7 BEA (8-8) at No. 2 West Shamokin (10-3)
West Shamokin, May 15
AAAA BASEBALL
Bellefonte, Friday, May 18, 4 p.m.
With four wins in its last six games — two by shutout — Bellefonte enters this game playing good baseball. There were wins over Central Mountain, Central and Clearfield in there, but the Raiders missed out in their final regular-season game with a 10-7 loss to rival BEA on May 11.
Bellefonte hit .314 as a team this year and averaged over seven runs per game. The Raiders smashed 20 home runs, led by sophomore CJ Funk, who it .431 with 23 RBIs and eight homers.
Freshman Bobby Marsh was close behind with a .381 average, seven homers and 24 RBIs.
Somerset will pose a challenge after posting 12 wins and finishing second in the Laurel Highlands Conference. Although the Eagles don’t have to power Bellefonte does, there are five .300 hitters in their lineup. In addition, their pitchers have a combined ERA of just .364 and they have a .914 fielding percentage.
This game should be one of the highlights of the first round.
