Four for 2012 Part II

Here are the other two baseball teams we expect to make long playoff runs next May. This will be the final blog post for over a week. Today is the first day of our much-needed vacation and where we're going, we don't have Internet. So enjoy this post and we'll talk again July 11.

Carlisle (10-10 in 2011; lost in District 3-AAAA preliminary round) – This team was still young in 2011, but the players won’t be next spring.

A large group of the young men who won the Little League State Championship in the summer of 2009 will be juniors in high school this fall. That means the varsity team will be expected to, at the very least, finish above .500 and make some noise in the District 3 Class AAAA playoffs.

The last two years, Carlisle has compiled an overall record of 20-20, but the Herd haven't won either of its 3-AAAA playoff games.

Standout pitchers Kyler Brown (1.67 ERA, 26 strikeouts, 16 walks) and Brian Goodling (3.36 ERA, 40 strikeouts, 19 walks) will anchor a rotation that should be feeling comfortable at the varsity level by now. But, pitching hasn’t been the problem for coach Brett Livingston’s team.

The Herd hasn’t been able to muster much offense. The team scored two runs or fewer eight times and finished 4-6 in one-run games this year.

If Carlisle doesn’t improve at the plate, this team will again struggle to finish above .500. The Mid-Penn Commonwealth Division is a big-boy league and if a team wants to compete, it has to pitch, hit and play defense. Last year, the Herd failed to do all three consistently enough to keep their heads above water.

East Pennsboro (14-7 in 2011; lost in District 3-AAA first round) – The Panthers continue to improve under coach John Frantz and could be poised to be playing after Memorial Day next year.

Sure, the Panthers lose some pop in Chance Smith (.410), Greg Wasikowski (.385) and Justin Dolan (.340), but their pitching will be difficult to beat.

First-team All-Sentinel selection Alex Card (1.58 ERA, 48 strikeouts, 16 walks), a left-handed pitcher, returns for his senior year. Solid No. 2 options also return in Brandon Lehman (4.32 ERA, 11 strikeouts, 11 walks) and A.J. Wilson (3.50 ERA, 26 strikeouts, 6 walks), assuming he doesn’t give up baseball to focus on his duty as East Penn’s quarterback.

That said, this team needs to find some offense behind Jesse McAllister (.372) and Lehman (.350).

The Panthers struggled at times this year to score runs and if they envision a division title and deep playoff run, the offense will need to come around.

In the playoffs, this pitching staff gives the team a chance to make some serious noise.

The Panthers narrowly lost to eventual 3-AAA runner-up Twin Valley last month and will likely use that heart-breaking loss in Reading as motivation for 2012.

If nothing else, the Panthers are our pick to win the wide-open Capital Division next spring.