Mtn. Lions, Golden Eagles No. 1 seeds in baseball
A pair of Blair County baseball teams will enter the District 6 playoffs as the top seed.
Altoona has earned the No. 1 spot and a bye into the championship game against either Mifflin County or State College in the District 6 Class 6A championship game Wednesday, May 22.
Tyrone will be top seed in Class 3A and open the playoffs against Penns Valley at home Monday.
In softball, Chestnut Ridge will be the top seed in the District 5-6 Class 3A playoffs and open by hosting Penns Valley at 4 p.m. on Monday, and Glendale will be the highest seed in Class 1A and host Blacklick Valley at the same time.
Glendale is on the opposite side of the bracket as third-seeded Claysburg-Kimmel. Those teams have met in the past two district championship games with the Lady Vikings winning two years ago before the Lady Bulldogs got revenge last year.
Baseball’s other seeds
Juniata Valley has won a District 6 championship in both football and boys basketball already this season, and many of those players are members of the baseball team. The Green Hornets will have a tough road if they want to win three district titles in one year, however. Juniata Valley begins its Class 1A baseball playoff path on the road at Bishop Carroll Monday at 1:30 p.m. That game is the only contest scheduled in baseball or softball Monday that is not at 4 p.m.
The winner of that game will play Thursday, May 23 against top-seeded Bishop McCort, which received a bye into the semifinals.
In Class 2A, Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic will host Claysburg-Kimmel on Monday in a No. 3-No. 6 matchup. Fourth-seeded Portage will also host a game in that bracket against No. 5 Homer-Center.
The two other qualifiers in Class 2A from the Mirror’s coverage area will have to go on the road and knock off the top two seeds in the tournament if they want to get past the first round. Bellwood-Antis, the No. 7 seed, will travel to Southern Huntingdon, and eighth-seeded Northern Cambria will play top-seeded West Shamokin. The undefeated Wolves have already beaten the Colts 14-4 and 9-2 this season.
Another pair of local teams that will be traveling in the first round are on the opposite side of Tyrone in the Class 3A bracket. Sixth-seeded Philipsburg-Osceola will play at Richland, and Central will take on Adam Cecere-led Forest Hills in the No. 2-No. 7 game on Monday.
Hollidaysburg is the second seed in Class 5A and will play top-seeded Central Mountain on Wednesday, May 22 for the District 6 championship.
SUBHED: Other softball seeds
Altoona and Hollidaysburg will both try and pull off upsets on the road to make it to their respective District 6 championship games.
The Lady Lions travel to State College on Thursday and would play Mifflin County in the Class 6A championship game on May 22 if they win. The Lady Tigers will visit Central Mountain Thursday with the chance to play in the 5A title game against DuBois on May 22 on the line.
Second-seeded Cambria Heights will host third-seeded Tyrone in a Class 4A semifinal game on May 23. The winner of that game will play for the district title against either top-seeded Johnstown or Bellefonte on May 29 or May 30.
Chestnut Ridge’s semifinal opponent in Class 3A could be another Mountain League team if Central can defeat Ligonier Valley on the road in the first round. On the other side of the bracket, Philipsburg-Osceola and Bald Eagle Area could add to their storied rivalry by meeting in the semifinals. BEA will have to get past seventh-seeded Penn Cambria, and P-O will have to knock off sixth-seeded Mount Union.
In Class 2A, Northern Cambria will host West Shamokin in the No. 4-No. 5 game on Monday, and seventh-seeded Bellwood-Antis will travel to No. 2 seed Marion Center on the other side of the bracket.
Claysburg-Kimmel may have to play two local teams on its way to a possible rematch with Glendale in 1A. The Lady Bulldogs open with sixth-seeded Williamsburg and then would play the winner of No. 2 Portage and No. 7 West Branch in the semifinals.
For complete first-round matchups, please see Scoreboard on B5.
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