NEPA Sports Nation

Playoff results shuffle rankings

An eventful first full week of district and subregional playoffs led to considerable movement in the latest Riverfront Sports Super Six Baseball Power Rankings of District 2 teams.

The rankings, which were released Sunday, include newcomers Wyoming Area and Scranton Prep. Wyoming Area will host a district championship game after entering the playoffs as a third seed and Scranton Prep will play for a title after starting out as a seventh seed.

Abington Heights, Lakeland and Western Wayne each moved up.

There was no change, however, at the top where Hazleton Area and Riverside remained unbeaten and continue to hold the No. 1 spots, which each has been in all season. They will have the home field for championship games.

North Pocono and Lake-Lehman, two more championship game hosts, held down the second positions.

Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 champion Hazleton Area won its only game, 10-0, over Williamsport in the District 2-4 Class 6A Subregional semifinals. The Cougars are 21-0 and lead the Big School rankings, which are for Class 6A, 5A and 4A teams.

North Pocono, the Lackawanna League Division 2 champion and the host of the District 2-4 Class 5A Subregional final, is second after winning twice.

Lackawanna League Division 1 champion Abington Heights won twice to land the other spot in the 5A final. Those road wins, including avenging a regular-season loss to Wallenpaupack, move the Comets from sixth to third, the week’s biggest climb.

Dallas drops from third to fourth after an upset loss ended the Class 4A top seed’s playoffs in the semifinals following a quarterfinal bye. The Mountaineers lost to unranked Honesdale, 3-2.

Wyoming Area debuted in fifth. The Warriors won twice to land the home field in the Class 4A final; extend their winning streak to four games, including a win over Wallenpaupack; and improve to 7-2 in the last nine with three victories over ranked teams.

Wallenpaupack dropped from fifth to sixth after splitting its two Class 5A playoff games.

Wyoming Valley West, formerly fourth, also split two games and dropped out of the rankings.

Riverside leads the Small School Rankings after two more wins to reach 20-0. The Vikings are Lackawanna League Division 3 champions and hosts of the Class 2A final.

Lake-Lehman held second after the WVC Division 2 champions won twice to earn the right to host the Class 3A final.

Lakeland split two games, losing at Lake-Lehman, but moved up one spot to third.

Western Wayne dropped a one-run game to Lakeland, but moved from sixth to fourth when the three teams above the Wildcats also were eliminated.

Holy Redeemer dipped from third to fifth when it lost in the quarterfinals.

Scranton Prep won twice, reached the Class 3A final and entered the rankings despite a 6-11 record. The Cavaliers started 0-7 and 1-10 while playing all but one of their regular-season games against Big Schools.

Nanticoke, which had been ranked fifth, lost its first playoff game and dropped out.

The full baseball rankings, with previous rankings and current records:

RIVERFRONT SPORTS SUPER SIX BASEBALL POWER RANKINGS

Big Schools

RankTeamPreviousRecord
1Hazleton Area121-0
2North Pocono216-3
3Abington Heights612-6
4Dallas313-6
5Wyoming AreaNR10-6
6Wallenpaupack516-5

Small Schools

RankTeamPreviousRecord
1Riverside120-0
2Lake-Lehman215-2
3Lakeland413-6
4Western Wayne610-7
5Holy Redeemer312-5
6Scranton PrepNR6-11

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