Nazareth and Northern Lehigh enter this week seeded No. 1 for their conference playoffs.

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

Nazareth and Northern Lehigh enter this week seeded No. 1 for their conference playoffs.

Both can wind up with a top seed for the District 11 baseball tournament by winning their two games this week.

KentNorth Division champion Nazareth starts the Lehigh Valley Conference tournament Tuesday at 7 p.m. with a semifinal game against East Division winner Liberty. The first semifinal will take place at 4:30 p.m. (weather permitting) with wild-card qualifier Parkland taking on West Division champion Emmaus.

Nazareth, Parkland, Liberty and Emmaus enter league championship week ranked 1-4 in the District 11 Class 4A power-point ratings. That means the winner of the LVC playoffs will capture the No. 1 seed for districts.

The three teams that don't win the LVC tournament have a strong possibility of being bumped down in the final district seedings. Pleasant Valley, (fifth in the District 11 Class 4A ratings), Stroudsburg (seventh) and Pocono Mountain East (eighth) all have a chance to nab the No. 2 seed for districts by winning the Mountain Valley Conference tournament this week.

Gill Northern Lehigh, the No. 1 seed for the Colonial League tournament, also holds the No. 1 spot in the latest District 11 Class 2A power-point ratings. The Bulldogs (with third baseman Matt Gill, left) face Southern Lehigh in the Colonial League semifinals Tuesday (7 p.m. at Limeport Stadium), with Pen Argyl playing Salisbury (4 p.m.) in the other semifinal.

Northern Lehigh, Pen Argyl and Salisbury rank 1-2-3 in the District 11 Class 2A power-point ratings. If one of those teams wins the Colonial League playoffs, it would nab the top 2A seed for districts.

Central Catholic currently leads the District 11 Class 3A power-point ratings, but Blue Mountain, Lehighton, Southern Lehigh or Pottsville could hop the Vikings by winning their respective league tournaments. Central Catholic missed out on qualifying for the LVC playoffs, losing a tiebreaker with Emmaus for the LVC West Division title.

Pius X currently holds the top spot in the District 11 Class A rankings. The Royals, who won the district title last year, have gone 14-3 after a much-delayed start to their season.

The full rankings include a rundown of a few teams that are still on the district bubble but can get in this week after finishing their rain-delayed schedules.

http://blogs.mcall.com/varsity/2011/05/nazareth-no-lehigh-in-position-for-no-1-seeds-in-district-11-baseball.html