I’d like very much to do another baseball power poll, as there would be a major shakeup among the top five, with Fallston ending C. Milton Wright’s winning streak and Patterson Mill thrashing Fallston. I’ll give it another week, however, because it would not be fair to the softball teams. Here’s how I see things stacking up in softball, taking into account all games through Tuesday:
1. C. Milton Wright - Starting with back-to-back losses might not be what you’d expect from a team that made it to the 2010 3A state finals, but the Mustangs got back on track Monday by pounding Perryville, last year’s 1A state runner-up, 10-3. The Mustangs are still the team to beat, but I don’t think they are going to run away with the Chesapeake (upper) Division title this time around.
2. North Harford - The newly-promoted Hawks passed their first Chesapeake Division test, knocking off Harford Tech, 15-4, on Monday, then they dropped the lower-division’s Fallston Cougars, 5-2, 24 hours later. As I’ve written dozens of times in my columns, my first few years at The Aegis were marked by Susquehanna (lower) champion teams getting the tar knocked out of them when they went up to the Chesapeake, but now I’ve seen enough squads have success with the harder schedule, and hopefully the Hawks become one of them.
3. Patterson Mill - Just like their baseball counterparts, the Huskies are my early pick to win the Susquehanna Division. They dropped Fallston 4-2 on Monday, and there’s a ton of games left for them to improve or implode, but I’m sticking the the Huskies, for now.
4. Fallston - The Cougars are here by merit of their two close games with the teams above them, but at 1-3 with three straight losses, they need to right the boat to stay in the lower division hunt.
5. Bel Air - The Bobcats basically earned this spot with their thrilling season-opening, 4-3 win over John Carroll (the same team that beat Harford Tech 13-8) March 24. Erin Morrissey’s one-hitter Monday in Bel Air’s 4-0 win over Aberdeen didn’t hurt either.
6. Harford Tech - Through their first two games, the Cobras have allowed more than twice as many runs than they have plated, losing to John Carroll and North Harford by a combined score of 28-12. If things don’t improve, they might be playing in the Susquehanna Division next season.
7. Havre de Grace - The Warriors have put up plenty of runs in their first two games, outscoring Joppatowne and Edgewood, 22-2. The question, now that they’ve shown some firepower against teams below them, is how they’re going to handle Bel Air, Fallston and Patterson Mill. (The Warriors lost to Fallston, 7-2, Wednesday.)
8. Aberdeen - The Eagles have only played one game, and that ended as a one-hit shutout for Bel Air. That’s not much to go on, but I wouldn’t put a check in the “encouraging” box.
9. Edgewood - In their first three games, the Rams have been no-hit, shutout, and have allowed 35 runs.
10. Joppatowne - Like Edgewood, the Mariners are 0-3 (I’m including their Wednesday night games, because it just so happened that the Edgewood and Joppatowne recaps were sent to me as I sat writing this).
OK, there you have it. I’ll be back in two weeks, and I’m sure that things will look a bit differently then. Until then, we should all pray for the weather to warm up, because 45-degree days in late March remind of me standing at second base and smacking my throwing hand against my thigh to keep it warm.