No tomorrow

Without question, Thursday is one of the more important days in the District 3 tournament for Class AAAA and AAA teams.

A win guarantees two games, and two chances to qualify for the PIAA tournament, next week. A loss and your season is over.

Red Land is the area's lone 3-AAAA team remaining and hasn't been able to avoid trouble in the quarterfinals the last two years. Last season the Patriots held a one-run lead in the seventh inning over Exeter before the wheels came off. Exeter scored seven runs to win.

Red Land's road to the semifinals as a No. 2 seed is anything but a cake walk. The Patriots must beat Mid-Penn Commonwealth rival Chambersburg on Thursday. The two split their two-game season series.

The 3-AAA bracket is home to two area teams. The better story is West Perry, the No. 22 seed that pounded sixth-seed Northern Lebanon, 10-1, Monday. A 22-seed in the semifinals would no doubt cause some double-takes when people browse over the bracket.

In fact, that scenario isn't so far-fetched. The Mustangs (14-8) have ace Kory Mann set to pitch against Muhlenberg on Thursday in Fredericksburg.

Shippensburg, the second seed, has its hands full with Susquehanna Twp., a team that has more left-handed batters than right-handers. Greyhounds left-handed ace Ricky Ott isn't available, so it's up to Justin Varner to deliver the team into the semifinals opposite Muhlenberg or West Perry.

There's only two things that can happen on Thursday: you win or lose. The difference is how drastic the outcomes are from each other.

A loss in this round stings more for the fact that it comes one round before a losing team is rewarded a mulligan in the district third-place game.