Prep Baseball Report

Revisiting our Preseason PIAA Class A Super 16 Predictions



By Jacob Gill
Philadelphia Region Director of Scouting

With the main portion of the summer evaluation season over, it's time to turn the mirror on ourselves and see how our pre-season predictions for the top teams in the state worked out, continuing today with PIAA Class A. Since we broke up the state tournament berth forecast by district, we'll do the analysis that way as well.

District I (1 bid)

How we saw it: Christopher Dock Mennonite
How it played out: Christopher Dock Mennonite

Dock dominated this one from start to finish, rolling undefeated against District I Class A schools through the regular-season and playoffs.

District II (1 bid)

How we saw it: Old Forge
How it played out: Blue Ridge

Perennial contender Old Forge was felled in the district quarterfinals by Blue Ridge, which was identified as one of the top four teams in the district in the pre-season and roared through the back half of its schedule after stumbling out of the gate.

District III (2 bids)

How we saw it: Lancaster County Christian, Millersburg Area
How it played out: Lancaster County Christian, Millersburg Area

LCC didn't just win the district, but took home the state crown as well. Millersburg completed the job this spring after falling one win short of a state berth in 2014.

District IV (1 bid)

How we saw it: North Penn-Mansfield
How it played out: Montgomery Area

Listed among our pre-season top five in the district, Montgomery took down North Penn-Mansfield by the slimmest of margins, 1-0, in the district title game.

District V (1 bid)

How we saw it: Meyersdale Area
How it played out: Southern Fulton

In our defense, we did say to "flip a coin between the Red Raiders and Southern Fulton." The Indians captured their second straight district crown over Meyersdale with an extra-inning win.

District VI (2 bids)

How we saw it: Blairsville, Portage Area
How it played out: Juniata Valley, Blairsville

With a state bid on the line, Blairsville defeated Portage 1-0 in the district semifinals. Juniata Valley, among our pre-season top five in the district, impressed all spring, finishing with unblemished regular- and post-season records against District VI Class A opponents.

District VII (3 bids)

How we saw it: Greensburg Central Catholic, Vincentian Academy, Serra Catholic
How it played out: Greensburg Central Catholic, California Area, Serra Catholic

GCC and Serra lived up to the hype, although, at this point, we should probably learn to never discount Cal (which we didn't totally, given they were one of our pre-season top seven in the WPIAL). Vincentian lost its opening round WPIAL playoff game in extra innings to eventual fourth place finisher Bishop Canevin.

District IX (2 bids)

How we saw it: Elk County Catholic, Dubois Central Catholic
How it played out: Oswayo Valley, Clarion Area

Close, but no cigar, here. With state bids on the line in the district semifinals, ECC and DCC, the top two seeds, were toppled by Clarion Area and Oswayo Valley, respectively.

District X (1 bid)

How we saw it: West Middlesex
How it played out: Eisenhower

WM seemed like the call given that they were reclassifying down from AA (where they competed well the past two years) and won this class A bid back in 2012 (before moving to AA). However, Eisenhower, one of our preseason top four in the district, upended WM in the semifinals.

District XI (1 bid)

How we saw it: Marian Catholic
How it played out: Tri-Valley

In the preview, we called this a "wide open district," one that was captured by preseason predicted district runner-up Tri-Valley, which slayed top-seeded MC in the semifinals.

District XII (1 bid)

How we saw it: Girard Academy Music Program
How it played out: Girard Academy Music Program

Typically a two-horse race between GAMP and Masterman, this season was no different as the former outlasted the latter in the Philadelphia Public League tournament for its ninth state berth in the past eleven seasons.

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