Southern Lehigh and Becahi are the picks today in softball championship games

FROM KEITH GROLLER

Nice to finally be able to play (and watch) softball on Saturday. The sunny skies were a welcomed sight.

It's cloudy as I type away at 9 on Sunday morning.

Hopefully, the rain -- which didn't even totally stay away on Saturday since it rained at night in certain parts of the Lehigh Valley -- will stay away today.

I see two very competitive championship games shaping up today. And I will attempt to do a play-by-play account of the games here on Groller's Corner just as I did yesterday, so if you're not at Pates Park you'll still be able to follow along. Just come back here starting at 2 when the LVC game is set to begin.

In the LVC, I see an offensive game between Becahi and Liberty. These are two similar teams with a good amount of offensive firepower. I see the difference being the tenacity of sophomore Joelle Morey in the pitching circle.

She's a tough competitor and has a couple of great coaches working with her in Chuck Billy and Brent Windsor.

That's not to say that Liberty's Erin Wilson does not.

I just think in this year of many "firsts" -- like the first time we've had five straight days of postponements during championship week -- we will have a first-time LVC champion and it will be Bethlehem Catholic by a 5-3 score. And maybe Lauren Visconti (who is pictured below, unfortunately with eyes closed) will come up with a clutch hit like she did with her three-run triple on Saturday.

In the second game today at Pates, the Colonial League championship game, you're going to have a mutual admiration society going between Southern Lehigh coach Brian Neefe and Pen Argyl coach Bill Schankel. These two have tremendous respect for one another and year after year in the Colonial League no one does a better job than Neefe or Schankel.

Pen Argyl's senior pitcher Deleila Schriner wasn't healthy at the start of the season and as she got healthier, so did the Green Knights.

I see another tight game like the ones on Saturday.

I see the difference being Cory Ozanne, both offensively and defensively. She will be the best player on the field and if she comes up in a situation where Pen Argyl must pitch to her, watch out.

I think it will be a close game -- 2-1 sounds about right -- and Southern Lehigh will win its 26th league title.

And then the upcoming District 11 3A field will have two league champions in it, plus another team -- Saucon Valley -- that started the season at 17-0.

I was 4-0 in predicting the semis, and probably should have quit while I was ahead.

Both of my original picks to win league titles back in March -- Palisades in the Colonial and Nazareth in LVC -- are not here. So, no matter what happens today, some will say I got it wrong.

In any case, enjoy today's games.


http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/