In the meantime, you can click the links below for text updates for baseball and an audio stream for softball provided by PIAA.

BASEBALL TEXT UPDATES

SOFTBALL AUDIO STREAM

In addition, PCN is providing live over-the-air coverage of each baseball championship and pay-per-view live video streaming over the Internet for baseball and softball. Here’s the link for the pay-per-view coverage (at $6.99 a pop): PAY-PER-VIEW

Here is the baseball championship schedule from Medlar Field at Lubrano Park at Penn State:
CLASS AAA: Northern York 6, Tunkhannock 3 (Northern York wins school’s first PIAA championship in a team sport)
CLASS A: Serra Catholic 4, Reading Central Catholic 0 (Serra wins handily after state championship losses in 2009 and 2010)
CLASS AA: Ellwood City Riverside 5, Salisbury Twp. 2 (Riverside becomes sixth school to win 3 PIAA baseball titles)
CLASS AAAA: Conestoga 6, Spring-Ford 3, 10 inn. (Conestoga wins first PIAA baseball title, reverse 22-11 District 1-AAAA loss)

Here is the softball championship schedule from Nittany Lion Softball Park at Penn State:
CLASS AA: Philipsburg-Osceola 1, Brandywine Heights 0 (P-O wins second title in five years)
CLASS AAAA: Hatboro-Horsham 4, Pennsbury 3 (HH scores 3 in the 6th to claim its 2nd PIAA softball title)
CLASS A: Minersville 6, Clarion 1 (Minersville wins 8th PIAA softball title, most in PIAA history)
CLASS AAA: Valley 3, Manheim Central 1 (Valley wins first PIAA softball championship)

In the meantime, here are a few game notes:

BASEBALL
CLASS AAA: Northern York vs. Tunkhannock … First appearance in the PIAA Baseball Championship for either school … The game was moved from its scheduled 1 p.m. start time to 10:30 a.m. because of Tunkhannock’s graduation ceremony Friday evening … The first four batters in Northern’s lineup – New York Mets draftee Joe Tuschak, Cody McLaughlin, Jon Mayer and Dylan Tamecki – all have batting averages above .400 … Lefty Vince Apicella of Northern has 121 Ks … Tunkhannock SS Mike Papi is batting .556, just ahead of power-hitting Mike Healey (10 HR, a whopping 50 RBI in just 21 games)

CLASS A: Reading Central Catholic vs. Serra Catholic … Serra is the first school to reach the PIAA baseball finals three straight years. The Eagles lost to Christopher Dock 4-3 in a stunning 7th-inning rally last year and Camp Hill 7-3 in 2009 … The Eagles will start pitcher Alain Girman, who is 23-0 in his high school career. Girman started last year’s championship game and pitched well before yielding to his brother, Oliver … Reading Central Catholic has an unbelievable storyline. Today’s game is the last athletic event in the school’s history; Central Catholic and Reading Holy Name are merging next school year to form Berks Catholic High School … The Cardinals might be the first school to reach the PIAA finals with a losing record at 11-13. They were 2-12 in their first 14 games this season. In fact, the school nearly dropped baseball in 2008 because of lack of participation

CLASS AA: Salisbury Twp. vs. Ellwood City Riverside … Salisbury Twp. is making its first state championship appearance; Riverside is making its third state finals appearance in the last seven years, having won PIAA Class AA titles in 2005 (over Halifax 8-0 with the first no-hitter in PIAA championship game history and 2006 (over Montoursville 7-4) … Salisbury’s Zach Harper will make the start on 3 days rest; he’s 2-0 in the PIAA playoffs. … Riverside can join five other schools – Camp Hill, Chambersburg, Christopher Dock Mennonite, Mount Union and Oley Valley – as three-time PIAA baseball champions with a win. No school has won more than three PIAA baseball championships; the PIAA baseball playoffs did not begin until 1977.

CLASS AAAA: Spring-Ford vs. Conestoga … You can call this a District 1-AAAA rematch if you like, but if it ends up being anything like Spring-Ford’s 22-11 win in the 1-AAAA championship back on June 2, it will be a stunner (and a record-breaker, given the PIAA championship game record for runs in a game is 22; that would be Mount Union’s 14-8 win over Wyomissing in the 1993 AA title game) … This is the second straight year for an all-District 1 Class AAAA final. Last year, Henderson defeated Owen J. Roberts 7-0 in the Class AAAA championship game at Altoona. … Spring-Ford is likely to start senior pitcher Mike Oczypok, who has a 14-0 record and a 0.87 ERA … Spring-Ford is making its second championship game appearance in four years, losing 10-2 to Canon-McMillan in in the 2008 Class AAAA championship game … Conestoga is making its first state championship appearance.

SOFTBALL
CLASS AA: Brandywine Heights vs. Philipsburg-Osceola … P-O and Brandywine met in the 2007 PIAA Class AA championship game with P-O winning 11-6, the highest-scoring game in PIAA softball championship history … P-O is making is second straight appearance in the finals, losing 3-1 in 11 innings to Nanticoke in 2010, and its third appearance in the last five years … Likewise, Brandywine is making its third appearance in five years, having lost to Bald Eagle Area 2-0 in 2009 as well as P-O in 2007 … P-O and Brandywine Heights also made one other Class AA championship game appearance each, Brandywine in 2005 (losing to Bald Eagle Area 6-0), P-O in 2000 (losing to Valley View 1-0)

CLASS AAAA: Hatboro-Horsham vs. Pennsbury … Like baseball, another all District 1-AAAA final. Hatboro-Horsham squandered a 5-0 lead in the 1-AAAA title game only to win 8-5 in eight innings on three unearned runs … Hatboro-Horsham starts six sophomores … Pennsbury has won five PIAA softball titles – second all-time in state history behind Minersville’s seven – the last coming in 2007 with a 3-2 win over Greater Latrobe … Hatboro-Horsham won its lone PIAA softball championship the following year with a 3-0 over poor Greater Latrobe … This is Hatboro-Horsham’s third appearance (lost to Shaler 3-0 in 2006) and Pennsbury’s seventh; the Falcons are 5-1 in championship games, losing to State College, 2-0, in its initial appearance in 1978

CLASS A: Minersville vs. Clarion … Minersville has been the undisputed champion of PIAA softball champions with a record seven, including the first two Class AA titles in 1979 and 1980 … In fact, the Battlin’ Miners have the distinction of winning the first Class AA and Class A PIAA titles; Minersville won the initial Class A championship in 1999 over Chartiers-Houston, 6-0 … This is Minersville’s record 9th PIAA championship game appearance … Clarion is the lone remaining unbeaten baseball or softball team in the state. The Bobcats are making their first PIAA championship game appearance … Clarion coach Dan Shofestall is 94-37 in his seventh season, but has done an amazing reclamation project. Clarion had won just three games in the previous two seasons when he took over in 2005.

CLASS AAA: Manheim Central vs. Valley … This is the first PIAA championship game appearance for both schools … Manheim Central has just two senior starters, Alexa Campbell and Samantha Ginder, both of whom skipped Manheim Central’s Senior Week in Florida to play in the state championships … Manheim Central has had five one-run victory in 9 postseason games … Valley was the WPIAL Class AA champion a year ago, but was moved up to AAA this year. It won again despite entering the WPIAL tournament with just 11 wins in a season devastated by rainouts.

You can view the official PIAA baseball brackets here and the softball brackets here.

PIAA BASEBALL
Class AAAA
Spring-Ford 6, Manheim Twp. 5
Conestoga 11, Seneca Valley 1 (6 inn)
Championship: Spring-Ford (25-4) Conestoga (21-4) at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, Penn State University, Friday, 6

Class AAA
Tunkhannock 9, Blue Mountain 0
Northern York 6, Elizabeth-Forward 4
Championship: Tunkhannock (19-2) vs. Northern York (22-5) at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, Penn State University, Friday, 10:30

Class AA
Salisbury Twp. 3, Danville 1
Ellwood City Riverside 5, Martinsburg Central 4
Championship: Salisbury Twp. (20-6) vs. Ellwood City Riverside (19-5) at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, Penn State University, Friday, 3:30

Class A
Reading Central Catholic 8, Muncy 4
Serra Catholic 11, Mercyhurst Prep 4
Championship: Reading Central Catholic (11-13) vs. Serra Catholic (21-3) at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, Penn State University, Friday, 1

—

PIAA SOFTBALL
Class AAAA
Hatboro-Horsham 2, Neshaminy 0
Pennsbury 7, Greater Latrobe 4
Championship: Hatboro-Horsham (25-2) vs. Pennsbury (23-3) at Nittany Lion Softball Park, Penn State University, Friday, 1

Class AAA
Manheim Central 1, Valley View 0
Valley 1, Bellefonte 0
Championship: Manheim Central (25-4) vs. Valley (20-2) at Nittany Lion Softball Park, Penn State University, Friday, 5

Class AA
Brandywine 2, Christopher Dock Mennonite 0
Philipsburg-Osceola 5, Burrell 0
Championship: Brandywine Heights (26-2) vs. Philipsburg-Osceola (24-1) at Nittany Lion Softball Park, Penn State University, Friday, 11

Class A
Minersville 3, Wyalusing 2
Clarion 3, Chartiers-Houston 2
Championship: Minersville (24-2) vs. Clarion (24-0) at Nittany Lion Softball Park, Penn State University, Friday, 3

PIAA BASEBALL QUARTERFINALS
Class AAAA
Spring-Ford 6, Council Rock South 5
Manheim Twp. 5, Nazareth 1
Conestoga 13, Methacton 3 (5 inn)
Seneca Vally 6, Peters Twp. 4

Class AAA
Tunkhannock 4, Mechanicsburg 1
Blue Mountain 9, Twin Valley 3
Northern York 6, Punxsutawney 1
Elizabeth-Forward 3, Grove City 2 (8 inn)

Class AA
Salisbury Twp. 9, Oley Valley 3
Danville 6, York Catholic 5
Ellwood City Riverside 10, Saegertown 7
Martinsburg Central 8, Bedford 1

Class A
Reading Central Catholic 8, Calvary Christian 3 (game called in 6th due to weather; Central Catholic declared winner)
Muncy 7, Salisbury-Elk Lick 0
Mercyhurst Prep 3, Bishop McCort 1
Serra Catholic 6, Bishop Carroll 3

PIAA SOFTBALL QUARTERFINALS
Class AAAA
Hatboro-Horsham 11, Williamsport 0 (6 inn)
Neshaminy 5, New Oxford 3 (8 inn)
Pennsbury 5, Souderton 0
Greater Latrobe 1, McDowell 0

Class AAA
Valley View 14, Pope John Paul II 0 (5 inn)
Manheim Central 5, Lansdale Catholic 4 (8 inn)
Bellefonte 9, Ambridge 0
Yough vs. Valley (game suspended in 4th, tied 0-0)

Class AA
Brandywine Heights 4, Elk Lake 3
Christopher Dock 6, Central Columbia 4
Burrell 6, Central Cambria 2
Philipsburg-Osceola vs. Greensburg Central Catholic (postponed to June 10 at Altoona HS, 1 p.m.)

Class A
Wyalusing 10, Old Forge 0 (5 inn)
Minersville 5, Bristol 0
Chartiers-Houston 2, Fannett-Metal 1
Clarion 8, Cochranton 0

Either way, here’s the first-round board:

PIAA BASEBALL
First round
CLASS AAAA
Spring-Ford 15, Spring Grove 1 (5 inn.)
Council Rock South 8, Monsignor Bonner 3
Manheim Twp. 3, Williamsport 1
Nazareth 6, Council Rock North 2
Methacton 6, Cedar Cliff 2
Conestoga 10, Frankford 3
Seneca Valley 8, McDowell 5
Peters Two. 6, DuBois 1

CLASS AAA
Mechanicsburg 10, Franklin Towne Center 0 (5 inn.)
Tunkhannock 11, Jersey Shore 7
Twin Valley 3, Neumann-Goretti 1
Blue Mountain 5, Upper Moreland 3
Northern York 11, Somerset 0
Punxsutawney 11, Hampton 1
Elizabeth-Forward 13, Carrick 2 (5 inn.)
Grove City 6, Chartiers Valley 3

CLASS AA
Oley Valley 10, Nueva Esperanza 1
Salisbury Twp. 7, Towanda 0
Danville 6, Lake-Lehman 5
York Catholic 13, Springfield Twp. 1
Ellwood City Riverside 1, Karns City 0
Saegertown 4, Laurel 3
Bedford 3, Waynesburg 2
Martinsburg Central 4, Mohawk 2

CLASS A
Reading Central Catholic 3, Masterman 2
Calvary Christian 9, Tri-Valley 4
Muncy 8, Old Forge 3
Salisbury-Elk Lick 5, Lancaster Country Day 0
Bishop McCort 7, Neshannock 1
Mercyhurst Prep 3, Coudersport 2 (12 inn.)
Serra Catholic 11, Elk County Catholic 5
Bishop Carroll 7, Chartiers-Houston 6

SOFTBALL
First round
CLASS AAAA
Hatboro-Horsham 6, Governor Mifflin 5
Williamsport 1, Spring-Ford 0
New Oxford 4, Archbishop Ryan 1
Neshaminy 12, Easton 0
Souderton 2, Central Dauphin 1 (8 inn.)
Pennsbury 12, Northeast Philadelphia 2
Greater Latrobe 1, State College 0
McDowell 4, Seneca Valley 3

CLASS AAA
Pope John Paul II 7, Donegal 5
Valley View 11, Jersey Shore 1
Lansdale Catholic 3, Bethlehem Catholic 1
Manheim Central 2, Pottsgrove 1
Bellefonte 5, Greencastle-Antrim 2
Ambridge 3, Fort LeBoeuf 0
Yough 11, Carrick 1
Valley 1, Punxustawney 0

CLASS AA
Brandywine Heights 3, Troy 2
Elk Lake 2, Pen Argyl 1
Christopher Dock 17, Masterman 1
Central Columbia 10, Annville-Cleona 6
Burrell 13, Moniteau 3
Central Cambria 14, Chestnut Ridge 6
Philipsburg-Osceola 10, South Allegheny 0
Greensburg Central Catholic 1, Fairview 0

CLASS A
Wyalusing 1, West Branch 0
Old Forge 5, Greenwood 3
Minersville 5, Northeast Bradford 0
Bristol 25, GAMP 0
Chartiers-Houston 12, Smethport 0
Fannet-Metal 2, Claysburg-Kimmel 1
Cochranton 4, Fort Cherry 1
Clarion 5, South Side Beaver 4

First, the PIAA brackets:

PIAA CLASS AAAA BRACKET (PIAA Championships begins June 6)
PIAA CLASS AAA BRACKET (PIAA Championships begins June 6)
PIAA CLASS AA BRACKET (PIAA Championships begins June 6)
PIAA CLASS A BRACKET (PIAA Championships begins June 6)

Now the districts:

DISTRICT 1

Class AAAA … Class AAA … Class AA … Class A

DISTRICT 2

Class AAAA … Class AAA … Class AA … Class A

DISTRICT 3

Class AAAA … Class AAA … Class AA … Class A

DISTRICT 4

Class AAA … Class AA … Class A

DISTRICT 5

Class AA … Class A

DISTRICT 6

Class AAAA … Class AAA … Class AA … Class A

DISTRICT 7

Class AAAA … Class AAA … Class AA … Class A

DISTRICT 8

Not available

DISTRICT 9

Class AAA … Class AA … Class A

DISTRICT 10

Class AAAA … Class AAA … Class AA … Class A

DISTRICT 11

All classes

DISTRICT 12

Not available

The new school, a merger of Indian Valley and Lewistown high schools that was approved by the Mifflin County School Board last week, will be in place next school year if current Mifflin County School District plans move forward. At current, there is no indication that anything will interrupt those plans, but with school mergers, anything can happen.

But here is what has happened: Indian Valley and Lewistown, both members of the Mountain League, were booted out of the Mountain League in 2012-2013, although the new school will have Mountain League schedules in most, if not all, sports for the next school year.

With the new school, which will be a mid-sized Class AAAA school in football and basketball, thrown out of the Mountain League, it is highly likely that the Mid-Penn Conference will accept the new school as a full member at the start of the next cycle.

On Thursday, the Mid-Penn Conference, as anticipated, accepted State College as an all-sports member; the Little Lions had been a football-only member since 2004. With Mifflin County between State College and Harrisburg, it makes adding Mifflin County a little more palatable to the Mid-Penn.

So palatable, in fact, the conference has included the Mifflin County school in its 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 schedules as a league member, despite the fact that no formal action has been taken on the Mifflin County matter.

In fact, the Mid-Penn, meeting at the same time as the Mountain League and unaware of the ML’s actions, would likely have passed the alignments that included Mifflin County had it not been for requests by Trinity and Steelton-Highspire to change basketball divisions. The conference will vote electronically next Wednesday on the alignments once Steel-High and Trinity resolve the issue. Assuming the Mifflin County school is included in those alignments, as they were on Wednesday, that’s a pretty good indication Mifflin County will have smooth sailing to Mid-Penn membership.

Sometimes I just provide links.

Sometimes I make people mad with my rankings or opinions.

Sometimes I even have someone agree with me.

But always, always, I wish the very best for everyone – athlete or not, coach or not, parent or not – because to think anything less would make me less than I can and should be.

I thank everyone for their patronage of RodFrisco.com this year. But far more than that, I wish everyone – Christian or otherwise – a very happy, safe and wonderful Christmas and holiday season.

Merry Christmas to all.

Fairly light menu, to be honest. The biggest news of the meeting occurred on Thursday night when the Board passed, on a first-reading basis, a proposal to advance the start of fall sports practice and playing dates by one week from the current PIAA calendar. The measure, if eventually passed in full by the Board of Directors, would be implemented for the 2012-2013 school year.

First, let’s make one thing clear: The proposal has not become PIAA policy yet. The measure must pass a second reading in January by a majority vote and by a two-thirds majority vote in March if it makes it that far. Thursday’s vote was 18-13, which shows the measure has support, but not the kind of overwhelming support required to implement the change. Frankly, it’s an uphill fight for the proposal; it will take 21 affirmative votes to pass the proposal.

A quick look at the financial game reports for fall sports shows that PIAA gate receipts are well behind last year’s fall sports receipts. Compared to last year’s receipts, PIAA is more than $23,000 behind last year’s total (football is not included in that number).

Updates will appear below the bar. The most recent update is at the top

—-
As expected, not much going on. The Board is down to a discussion stage on a number of matters that will not require Board action. I’m off to Hersheypark Stadium. Frisky out.

Lots of discussion on an important by-law: How the PIAA will count enrollment toward cooperative sponsorships. The PIAA is proposing to count 50 percent of a sending school’s enrollment toward a co-op rather than the current 100 percent. This seems like a reasonable and a good step toward alleviating the problem of bumping a host school up in classification.

Some Board members are bartering for an even greater reduction in percentage – District 5 rep Virgil Palumbo is asking for 25 percent – in orderto bring the percentage more in line with the actual number of students to go from a sending school to a host school.

There is a counter-argument that such a move would give a competitive advantage to the small number of schools that can engage in co-ops. And the proposal is tabled.

District 5 rep Virgil Palumbo makes a new proposal to lower the percent of enrollment used in a co-op to 25 percent. The measure passes on a first-reading basis, 22-7. The original proposal remains on the table.
Back in regular session.

Just finishing up a hearing for a Danville athlete. Will return to regular session shortly.

I spent the day refining and then actually giving a presentation to the District 3 Committee for a position with the district as its webmaster and director of corporate sponsorships.

I’m pleased to announce that the district, after some healthy discussion on the matter, has approved the job. I thank the committee, and especially chairman Sam Elias of Hershey and vice-chairman Ron Kennedy of Donegal, with deep gratitude.

In brief, I have been charged with upgrading the District 3 site and providing the site with daily content as well as establishing permanent features. In addition, District 3, much like District 7, is actively seeking corporate sponsorships for its championship events. I am thrilled to be the point man for this initiative. The district will be seeking everything from major sponsors (a la District 7) to low-cost sponsorships for specific sports.

I will have details soon on the new District 3 website, which I hope to have up by Christmas. In the meantime, if you are interested in sponsoring District 3 championships at any level or know of an individual or business that is interested in the same, please feel free to contact me at rod@rodfrisco.com or call me at 717-919-5144. I will be happy to explain District 3′s different levels of sponsorship that are designed to work with any budget.

Now, what does this mean for RodFrisco.com? Is this the end of the site? Hardly.

What will happen with RodFrisco.com is a shift in philosophy, but not in content. I’ll be less of a reporter / blogger (because of time), but still very heavy on daily information. I will have to streamline my time and some of the information. I’ll have shorter, to-the-point blog posts and more links directly to the information.

I still intend to cover PIAA championships andpost everything I can related to PIAA news. For example, I’ll cover Friday morning’s PIAA Board of Directors meeting as well as all four football championship games this weekend.

But are some things that will necessarily change. For instance, I know some readers are looking for District 3 wrestling rankings on the site, but unfortunately, I cannot so them for two reasons. Now that I am actively working for District 3, I do not believe it is ethical for me to post district rankings, which are an opinion. It could be construed as the official position of District 3, and that cannot ever be the case. In addition, I am doing the team wrestling power ratings, which will formally qualify and seed the District 3 team Championships. I cannot be in the position of putting up my own rankings while working the official ratings; it’s a conflict of interest, and neither District 3 nor I can be in that position.

So I have to back away from my own rankings, but I’ll be happy to post the rankings of others. As such, things will change a little, but not in a way that’s detrimental to the readers of RodFrisco.com, readers for which I am extremely grateful.

Thanks to all who have chosen RodFrisco.com since the site launched in February. The site isn’t going away. In fact, it will have a sharper focus as a result of my work with District 3.

Keep checking. There will be plenty of items on the site in the coming days, weeks and months.

Rod

From bill on Contact us #

Rod, Wonderful effort—-a grand display by you to keeping good things going. Can we send a donation or tribute? …

Well, first of all, many thanks to the otherwise anonymous Bill. Comments like that help keep my enthusiasm level high.

But Bill did bring up that rather sensitive subject of money. This gives me an opportunity to make a little pre-emptive announcement.

As a dot com, I cannot accept donations toward the site. I run a (very) small business, subject to the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and those fine folks at the Internal Revenue Service. So any income I derive through the website must come in the form of either sales or sponsorships.

I am on the cusp of seeking both. Soon – very soon – I will have some RodFrisco.com gear available for sale. No, you won’t have a slick, four-color brochure to peruse. I will have just one product to start: Simple, white T-shirts with the red-and-black RodFrisco.com logo across the front.

I will make those shirts available for sale via the website in a week or so; I still have to set up my PayPal account and install it on my site.

If you like the site, please consider purchasing one as a way of supporting the site. They will be sold a small profit, the monies of which will be used to support the site.

I do not plan on making RodFrisco.com a subscription site … ever. That’s not a great business decision, to be honest, but I have always believed that the information on the site should not be for sale. I just want readers throughout the state and beyond to have a vault of information that they can access 24/7 without the annoyance of logging in or even paying a small fee for the privilege.

The simple fact is I love covering and commenting on Pennsylvania high school sports and have since I wandered into The Progress of Clearfield 37 years ago looking for a job answering phones (thanks, Fred Kavelak!). It’s a passion, and passion doesn’t have a price.

The T-shirts will, though. But it will be a reasonable one. Look for the announcement soon.

And thanks to all who have viewed the site (just about 400,000 and growing since February).