Mother Nature settling final playoff seeding

The decision by several teams not to re-play previously rained out games has cleared up the South Penn League standings....a little.

Littestown and Hanover, which were rained out Saturday in their original regular season finales, each elected not to replay the game. Per league guidelines, any games where both teams agree not to play shall be scored as "losses" for each team for playoff seeding purposes. The current league standings reflect this. The "loss" by Littlestown means that Cashtown will be the no. 2 seed in the upcoming playoffs, and Littlestown will be the no. 3 seed.

Brushtown and North Carroll, also victim to Saturday's rain, have also elected not to replay that game. With both Brushtown and Hanover taking an extra "loss", the Raiders currently stand a half-game ahead of the Bulldogs in the standings. Brushtown is scheduled to play Gettysburg Tuesday, and Hanover is slated to play North Carroll on Tuesday, weather permitting. A win by Brushtown and a Hanover loss would give the Bulldogs the number 4 seed and home field advantage in round one of the playoffs, while a Hanover win and Brushtown loss would secure the no 4 seed for the Raiders. Complicating matters is that Brushtown and Littlestown have one remaining game left to play, which could potentially be played Wednesday evening. No details on the status of that game have yet to be reported to the league commissioner.

Gettysburg and North Carroll both sit with identical 3-24 records, with one game left to play (Tuesday) for each. Because the Grays took three out of four regular season games against the Panthers, Gettysburg will earn the no. 7 seed should both teams win, lose, or not get their final regular season games in. North Carroll will be the no 8 seed unless they are able to manage a win in their final scheduled game.

The South Penn League playoffs' opening round begins Thursday evening at the home fields of the top four seeds.