WVC baseball, softball teams earn top seeds

Three WVC baseball and two WVC softball teams have earned top seeds in next week’s District 2 tournaments, as the brackets were released on Friday.

In baseball, Wyoming Valley West (Class 4A), Pittston Area (3A) and Hanover Area (2A) are seeded first in their respective brackets. For softball, Hazleton Area (4A) and Northwest Area (2A) are both No. 1.

The tournaments begin on Monday with the start of Class 2A play in both sports, as well as Class 3A softball. Baseball’s 4A and A tournaments start Tuesday, 3A baseball begins on Wednesday and softball’s 4A and A brackets get under way on Thursday.

Baseball championship games for Class 4A and A will be held on May 28, with the 3A and 2A finals being held on May 29. In softball, 3A and 2A are on May 28 with 4A and A on May 29.

All four baseball District 2 finals are tentatively scheduled to be played at PNC Field in Moosic. Softball finals will be held at appropriate neutral sites.

Though all of the brackets were released on Friday, the final pairings in baseball Class 2A and softball Class 4A won’t be known until today after two division championship playoff games conclude.

Wyoming Valley West and Dallas will square off for WVC softball’s Division I West title at 2 p.m. at the Kingston Rec Center. West Scranton and Scranton Prep will play for Lackawanna League baseball’s Division I championship at 1 p.m. at Wallenpaupack.

Baseball breakdown

• In Class 4A, the Spartans (13-1) earned a bye with their top seed and will host the winner of Abington Heights-Delaware Valley in a Thursday semifinal.

Hazleton Area (7-8) is seeded sixth out of seven teams and will travel up to Wallenpaupack on Tuesday in a quarterfinal matchup.

• The Patriots (12-3) top Class 3A and earned a first-round bye along with No. 3 Berwick (9-5). Pittston Area will take on either No. 8 Dallas (6-8) or Honesdale (Wednesday at Dallas) in the quarterfinals on Friday. The Bulldogs will host the Valley View-Western Wayne winner on Friday.

Tunkhannock (8-6) earned the four seed and will play No. 13 Nanticoke (2-13). Another WVC first-round pairing is next to that in the bracket, as No. 5 Coughlin (8-7) faces No. 12 Wyoming Area (2-12). Also, seventh-seeded Crestwood (7-8) will take on divisional foe No. 10 Holy Redeemer (6-9) at Barney Farms.

• Class 2A begins Monday with a play-in game between West Side Tech (5-9) and Mid Valley. The winner gets to travel to Hanover Area (13-1) to start first-round play, which will be held on Wednesday.

GAR (12-2) and Lake-Lehman (10-4) await the outcome of today’s Scranton Prep game to learn their seedings. A Scranton Prep loss would make the Grenadiers the third seed and the Black Knights the fourth. If Scranton Prep wins, GAR is four and Lake-Lehman is five.

•Northwest Area (5-9) is the top WVC team in Class A, taking the third seed. The Rangers host winless Forest City on Tuesday. No. 4 Wyoming Seminary (3-11) and No. 5 MMI Prep (1-13) will play Tuesday for the right to take on top-seeded Old Forge in the semifinals.

Softball breakdown

•The Cougars (11-3) earned their 4A top seed by virtue of winning the WVC Division I East title and will play the Scranton-Wallenpaupack winner on May 27 in the semifinals.

Wyoming Valley West (11-3) will face Delaware Valley in the other semifinal, with the venue to be determined based on today’s Valley West-Dallas title game. A Spartans win makes them the two seed and allows them to host the Warriors on Thursday. A loss will put them at No. 3 and on the road.

•Dallas (11-3) is the second seed in Class 3A regardless of today’s result, and the Mountaineers will take on Western Wayne to start Monday’s first round.

Tunkhannock (9-5) is the next highest WVC seed at No. 6 and the Tigers will play Scranton Prep. No. 7 Coughlin (7-8) hosts No. 10 Crestwood (5-10) and No. 9 Berwick (6-8) travels to North Pocono, with the winner playing No. 1 Abington Heights.

Wyoming Area is the 12-seed and will play at Honesdale, No. 13 Pittston Area heads to West Scranton and No. 14 Holy Redeemer faces Valley View.

•The top-seeded Rangers (13-1) begin Monday’s Class 2A first round by hosting Riverside. No. 2 Lake-Lehman (13-1) starts its quest against Mountain View.