Winning numbers drawn in 'Cash 5' game

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A day for the birds: Children enjoy educational day at Frances Slocum State Park

Lou DiPasquale predicted this. More than four months ago, even.During winter workouts, Northwest&#8217;s baseball coach said he believed his team would be taking on Hanover Area for a district title on Memorial Day.&#8220;Yep, back in January,&#8221; DiPasquale said. &#8220;My boys thought I was crazy.&#8221;The holiday is finally here. And sure enough, it&#8217;s a Wyoming Valley Conference rubber match between the Rangers and the Hawkeyes at PNC Field.&#8220;I couldn&#8217;t have asked for anything better,&#8221; DiPasquale said. &#8220;When we were in the gym in January I said we&#8217;d be playing at PNC against Hanover. And here we are.&#8220;That&#8217;s a good Hanover baseball team. And now our team has to be considered up there as a good one, too.&#8221;Indeed, the Rangers will share the spotlight with fellow WVC squads Hanover Area and Wyoming Valley West in Monday&#8217;s all-day celebration of local baseball. The Rangers and Hawks get it all started at 10 a.m. in the District 2 Class 2A finals. Valley West will take on Delaware Valley for the Class 4A crown at 4 p.m.In between will be the 3A title game between Valley View and North Pocono at 1 p.m. The Class A championship will be the nightcap as Blue Ridge and Forest City play at 7 p.m.A berth in the state tournament awaits all four winners.CLASS 2AIt&#8217;s hard to imagine this one being anything other than tense.Even when the Hawkeyes were in the midst of their incredible 43-game WVC win streak from 2011-15, it was the Rangers who seemed to give them trouble. In 2014, they came within a run of Hanover twice, including in the district tournament.With the Hawks breaking in a largely new lineup in 2015, Northwest ended the unbeaten run with a 5-3 win in Shickshinny.This season, the two teams split the regular season series with Hanover Area winning 5-4 in extra innings in April and Northwest taking a 3-0 decision three weeks ago.Both sides certainly earned their way here.Hanover Area was the No. 9 seed, playing a pair of rare road playoff games in the first two rounds, knocking off two other Division 3 rivals in No. 8 GAR and No. 1 Holy Redeemer. The Hawks then threw a one-hitter in the semifinals against No. 12 Riverside to reach the title game for the third straight season.&#8220;We didn&#8217;t have a great regular season,&#8221; Hanover coach Mike Zapotoski said. &#8220;But now it seems like there&#8217;s no pressure on them with being a one, two, or three seed. They&#8217;re kind of just playing baseball right now and not pressing.&#8221;Hanover is expected to start eight players who also started in the 2015 finals. And &#8212; as usual &#8212; the pitching has been excellent for the Hawks. A year ago, they didn&#8217;t allow a single run in the first three rounds before falling 1-0 in the finals. This time they had to settle for merely two shutouts.Both Kevin Rimmer and Kyle Kowalski have shined on the mound these last two postseasons.&#8220;Yeah, we&#8217;ve got a little friendly competition,&#8221; Rimmer said after going the distance against Redeemer. &#8220;Just see who can have the better game.&#8221;For the seventh-seeded Rangers, the bats have been the biggest story.Northwest is the highest-scoring team in any of the four brackets so far, putting up 13 runs apiece in wins over No. 10 Mountain View and No. 2 Montrose, the defending district champ. The Rangers then knocked off No. 3 Holy Cross 6-3 in the semis to reach the district finals for the first time since 2008, when the Rangers were in Class A.Eric Evans, Brandon Reno, Andrew Boberick, Doug Campbell and Bryce Harrison have all taken turns coming through in big spots in support of pitchers Brian Hardiman, Brandon Hardiman, David Piestrak and Reese Godfrey.Win or lose, the Rangers believe this group has already raised the bar for the program.&#8220;They&#8217;re going to leave a legacy at Northwest for baseball,&#8221; DiPasquale said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know that we&#8217;ve ever won 12 games, and here we are with 12 wins this year. I certainly don&#8217;t feel like we&#8217;re done.&#8221;CLASS 4AWyoming Valley West is pretty much a fixture in this game, reaching the finals for the seventh time in the last 10 years.Under coach John Milius, the Spartans are 5-1 in the district title game. And because the only loss came against District 4 Williamsport, they earned D2 gold medals every time.&#8220;It&#8217;s not like work. I just enjoy it,&#8221; Milius said after beating Scranton and Williamsport to reach this point. &#8220;I just love working with these kids. They&#8217;re like sponges &#8212; they absorb everything. They wanna know. They wanna learn.&#8220;You have a good bunch of kids, you coach &#8216;em up, you throw &#8216;em out there and let &#8216;em play.&#8221;The Spartans have made it seem that simple at times. Last year they beat a strong and experienced Hazleton Area team for the district crown before making a run all the way to extra innings of the state championship game, narrowly missing the ultimate prize.Six players who appeared in that PIAA final &#8212; Ryan Hogan, Justin Montalvo, Mark Popson, Eric Raitter, Justin Vought and Tyler Yankosky &#8212; will likely be in the lineup Monday.&#8220;It&#8217;s a lot easier for kids who have already played (in the district and state finals),&#8221; said Yankosky, who is in line to start on the mound. &#8220;Nerve-wise we already went through a bunch of games. I mean, we&#8217;re still going to be nervous going up there, but the nerves will get out a lot sooner because we&#8217;ve been there before.&#8221;In the way for the second-seeded Spartans is No. 1 Delaware Valley, which went unbeaten in Division 2 play of the Lackawanna League. The Warriors lost a non-division game to Valley View to open the season before running off 14 straight wins.In that span, the Warriors have won six straight one-run games, including a 6-5 victory in extra innings against West Scranton in the semifinals. Delaware Valley saw the Invaders erase a 4-0 deficit and even take a 5-4 lead in the top of the eighth before the Warriors got two in the home half to win it.Under coach Dave Peters, Delaware Valley became just the second District 2 team in history to win a PIAA baseball championship in 2006. The Warriors remain the only school from the area to win a 4A crown since the field expanded to four classes in 2005.This will be the Warriors&#8217; second trip to the district finals since winning states after losing to Hazleton Area in 2014.Monday&#8217;s matchup looks to be a contrast in styles.&#8220;I think they stack up very well. Two very different teams,&#8221; Scranton coach Jamie Higgins said. &#8220;(The Spartans) swing the bats. They pound the strike zone. DelVal, they play small ball. They have a good hitter at the top of the lineup (Lawrence Cicileo), and they&#8217;re just gonna try to squeeze some runs out.&#8220;I don&#8217;t think Valley West has to do that. They can just rely on their bats. They don&#8217;t have to steal, they don&#8217;t have to bunt. Those kids swing it. &#8230; You&#8217;ve gotta take your hat off to them.&#8221;<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Northwest and Hanover Area have waged plenty of close battles the last few years. This time, the district championship will be on the line. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_hawk-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Northwest and Hanover Area have waged plenty of close battles the last few years. This time, the district championship will be on the line. </caption0><photoCredit0>Fred Adams file photo | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_wvwwilliamsport06-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Tyler Yankosky is expected to take the mound for Wyoming Valley West in Monday&#8217;s District 2 Class 4A title game against Delaware Valley. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_wvwwilliamsport06-2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Tyler Yankosky is expected to take the mound for Wyoming Valley West in Monday&#8217;s District 2 Class 4A title game against Delaware Valley. </caption1><photoCredit1>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>PNC Field to play host to day of H.S. baseball</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Derek Levarsedlevarse@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>DISTRICT 2BASEBALL FINALSMonday, PNC FieldClass 2A, 10 a.m.&#8226; Northwest vs. Hanover AreaClass 3A, 1 p.m.&#8226; Valley View vs. North PoconoClass 4A, 4 p.m.&#8226; Delaware Valley vs. Valley WestClass A, 7 p.m.&#8226; Blue Ridge vs. Forest City</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</shirttailMeta></div>

WVC teams vie for District 2 baseball titles