* As per the District IV Baseball Rules and Regulations, “The lowest .500 team in each classification and all teams listed above that team in the power rankings will qualify for the district tournaments in each classification.”

Except .. “If only one team in a classification qualifies with a .500 winning percentage, the 2nd ranked team in that classification will qualify for the Championship game in that classification regardless of record.”

This exception was put into place based on the occurrence last season where St. John Neumann was the lone Class A team to qualify for District play with a .500 record. Rather than simply hand a team a District Championship, the District allowed Cowanesque Valley into the playoffs, to play Neumann in the District finals. There, the Indians came within one strike of upsetting Neumann.

This season, the “exception” should not come into play, as there are as many as six teams in Class A who still have a chance to finish .500 or better, though some face a steeper climb than others.

Cowanesque Valley is currently seeded second based on power rankings, with a 7-8 record and four games remaining. The Indians play 14-1 Sayre, then have 7-6 Troy, 1-10 Galeton and 2-15 Towanda. 

A 10-9 final record is well within reach, and a loss to Sayre is not a given. If any team in the NTL can upset Sayre, CV is one of them. The Indians lost 7-3 in their previous match-up.

Benton is currently the top seed, at 9-3, with five games remaining, and last season’s District champ, Neuman is third at 5-5 with eight scheduled games remaining. Millville is fourth at 7-7 with four games left, and Sullivan County .. 4-8 with five games left .. and NEB .. 5-9 with five games left .. are fifth and sixth.

Williamson is our lone AA representative, and are currently last .. 12th .. in the District standings with a 5-11 record and four games left. However, they are not officially eliminated from the post-season tourney yet .. as there are a pair of teams just ahead of them in the standings that, with a couple upsets in their last few games, Williamson could jump in the standings. And IF a team below them in the standings finished at .500, the Warriors would make it. It’s a long shot, but not impossible.

We have two teams in AAA, in Wellsboro and North Penn-Mansfield. The Hornets will make the District playoffs, and are currently seeded third in the standings with a 10-4 record, with three games remaining.

Central Columbia is first, at 12-0, with seven games left, and Hughesville is second, at 11-4, with three games remaining. Wellsboro could overtake Hughesville for the second seed with a strong finish.

NPM is currently ranked sixth, at 7-10, with just two games remaining. It should be three games left .. at least giving the Tigers a chance to finish .500 .. but as of now their cancelled game from Saturday is not being scheduled to be made up .. a very unfortunate decision made by St. John Neumann. 

The Tigers also will not benefit from any teams below them finishing .500, likely leaving them out of the playoffs.

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Cowanesque Valley is firmly entrenched in the playoff picture. At 13-3 with four winnable games left, the Lady Indians are currently the third seed. Above them are top-seeded NEB, at 10-1 with three games remaining, who CV has a pair of one-run losses to this season, and second seed Montgomery, who are 10-2 with eight games left. 

This could end up being a five-team tournament, or as many as eight teams could conceivably make the playoffs. 

NEB has only three games left .. one against winless Sayre .. but their other two are against 12-3 Wyalusing and 10-4 NP-Liberty, and Canton showed last week that the Panthers are beatable. CV will be rooting for the Rams and the Warriors, for a chance to bump themselves up in the standings with a couple of NEB losses.

While not officially eliminated from playoff contention, Williamson is not likely to get a bid to the post-season. They are 3-11 with just four games left, and, the one team behind them in the standings who could possibly finish .500 would jump them in the power rankings with the wins they’d need to do so.

North Penn-Liberty is in, at 10-4 with six games remaining, the Lady Mounties are currently the fourth seed. They have their toughest stretch of games left, with games against Central Columbia (11-1), Muncy (12-2), NEB (10-1), CV (13-3) and quad-A Athens (7-9), which means they could pick up some valuable power ranking points and gain ground on the three teams ahead of them in the standings .. Central Columbia, Lewisburg at 8-3 and Loyalsock at 9-4. 

Wellsboro is in the eighth spot of AAA, with a 6-10 record and four games left. The Lady Hornets have won three of their last four games .. over Troy, Athens and Towanda .. and if they can upset Wyalusing, who they fell to 16-5 earlier in the season, they have a legitimate shot at winning out, against Coudersport, Towanda and Williamson, and getting to .500.

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The District IV playoffs will begin on Saturday, May 21st, and scheduling will depend on the number of teams that qualify in each classification. Higher seeded teams will host.