For Lehighton's Hunter Greene, every spring used to mean baseball.

But after playing the sport most of his life, the senior decided it was time for a break.Without the game, and needing something else to fill his competitive nature, Greene eventually joined the track team as a thrower.The rest, as they say, is history.After a shaky start, Greene began having success. By midseason, he owned the top area throw in the javelin. This past Wednesday at the Schuylkill League track and field championships, the Indian athlete captured first place in the javelin, and sixth in the shot put."I was a baseball guy and Mr. (Bill) Brong was constantly in my ear about going out for track," said Greene. "He convinced me to go out and I'm glad I did."I played baseball my whole life, and I just wanted to try something else. I knew I had a good arm, and I figured I'd probably be able to come out here and be decent in some of the throwing events."Brong, the school's throwing coach, felt Greene could be more than just decent. With the senior's build and athleticism, the longtime mentor felt his ceiling was rather high."He came out, and he stuck with it," Brong said. "It didn't come super easy at first, but I knew he was a real good athlete, a long-armed tall kid. I knew he had the ingredients, so to speak, to be a good thrower. I'm super glad that he came out, and the fact that he's having success is great because he took a chance."Top throws weren't immediate for the former pitcher. With baseball still on the brain, old habits needed to be broken.It took a little time, but Greene made the changeover."The transition was definitely difficult because I throw everything like a baseball; that's what I've done my whole life," Greene said. "But I did a lot of drills with Mr. Brong and had a lot of extra practice, working more on form than anything else. Once I got that down, everything else kind of fell into place since I already have the natural throwing ability. Once I got the form, that's what really helped me.""The positive thing is he's a former baseball player and you know he has a fast arm," Brong said. "The negative thing is throwing a baseball is NOT like throwing a javelin. They're two totally different things. You never know if they're going to be able to make the transition. You can have a person who can throw a baseball. You can have a person who can throw a football. But that doesn't necessarily equate into being able to throw the jav."Greene, however, became confident of his abilities early in the season. Despite lower distances than he wanted in the javelin, circumstances made it evident that the future would be brighter. That, and the fact he put plenty of practice time into his newest challenge."It was definitely a work in progress," Greene said. "It seemed like you were doing the same thing over and over and over again. But the littlest mistake can throw you off so you have to be perfect with it every single time. If you want to have the best throw, you have to have the best form. So there's nothing you can do but practice."The first Invitational we had at Jim Thorpe, I didn't throw my best but I still threw with the highest throwers. Ever since that day, I knew that if I could throw with the best guys I could just keep getting better and bump my way up and ultimately take over the best spot."Against North Schuylkill on April 21, the senior uncorked a throw of 164-9. That mark is a Times News area best this season. This past Wednesday, his toss of 161-1 earned him a gold medal at the Schuylkill League meet."He's been very consistent recently in the 60s, which is a nice thing," Brong said. "I hope he breaks out at districts."I give him all the accolades because he picked it up and stayed with it. It would have been very easy for him to say, 'Coach, I can't do this.' Throwing events are probably the most technical events in all of sport. Here's a kid who started throwing in the beginning of March and the season ends in May. That's not a lot of time. So it's really kind of amazing how well he picked it up."Greene now has his eyes set on districts next week. A first or second place would earn a berth at states."There's some good throwers at districts," Greene said. "Hopefully I can PR and get over 170 if I'm feeling good."I had high expectations for myself. I knew my ability, and I knew if I put my mind toward it and actually worked on it, I could be a pretty good thrower. I joked around with a couple of my friends that I'd be able to win some invitationals, and it actually came true. So I'm hoping that maybe I can do well at districts, too."**********Every week during the spring sports season, the Times News will publish its weekly "Spring Sports Notebook" reflecting back on the week that was, and highlighting both individual and team accomplishments, as well as interesting information that may have occurred in games and matches. This week's notes, compiled by Jason Boris, will cover baseball, softball and lacrosse, and will consist of storylines from the previous nine days (Wednesday, May 4-Thursday, May 12). With the regular season wrapping up for all area teams next week, this will also be the final "Spring Sports Notebook" of the season.**********BASEBALLBACK-TO-BACK NO HITTERS- Fresh off a "perfect game" thrown by Teague Schmidt on May 2 against Weatherly, Marian's Nick Kubishin followed suit with a no-hitter of his own last Thursday in a 14-0 victory over Mahanoy Area. Kubishin pitched five hitless innings with five strikeouts and three walks. Kubishin's gem is the third no-hitter thrown by Marian pitchers this season. On opening day, four Colts (including Kubishin and Schmidt) combined for a no-hitter in a 10-0 shutout of Notre Dame of East Stroudsburg.FEAR KEER- Marian's Daniel Keer belted his fourth home run of the season in Wednesday's 16-6 victory over Shenandoah Valley. The long ball was a grand slam and gave Keer seven RBIs for the game. Keer's four home runs leads the Times News area. Tamaqua's Matt Minchhoff follows Keer with two homers on the season.STREAKING INTO THE PLAYOFFS- Tamaqua finished its regular season on a seven-game winning streak, which is the longest current streak in the area. During that seven-game stretch (4/29-5/12), the Blue Raiders not only clinched a district playoff berth with a 7-0 victory over Tri-Valley on April 30, but also secured the Schuylkill League Division 1 wildcard on Monday with a 2-1 win over Pottsville. Tamaqua will play the Schuylkill League Division 2 champion (either Schuylkill Haven, Tri-Valley or Minersville) in next week's league semifinal. North Schuylkill (the Division 1 champion) will play Marian (the Division 3 champion) in the other league semifinal.POSTSEASON BOUND- Panther Valley (10-8) became the sixth area baseball team to punch its ticket into the District 11 playoffs. With an 11-6 victory over Mahanoy Area on Monday, the Panthers qualified for the District 11, Class AA Tournament. Panther Valley joins Marian (15-4), Northwestern (16-4), Palmerton (11-9), Pleasant Valley (9-11) and Tamaqua (15-4) in the District 11 playoffs.ON THE BUBBLE- Lehighton (9-9) is looking to become the seventh area team to reach the postseason. The Indians completed their league schedule with a 5-7 record, but can make the district playoffs if they win one of their remaining two non-league contest. The Tribe will host Saucon Valley (8-11) on Sunday at 4 p.m. before entertaining Catasauqua (7-12) on Monday.SOFTBALLPANTHERS FEELING 22- Panther Valley scored 22 runs last Thursday in a 22-11 Schuylkill League victory over Shenandoah Valley. The 22 runs are the most in the Times News-area this season. The Pleasant Valley baseball team scored 21 runs on March 30 against Pocono Mountain West, while the Palmerton softball team recorded 20 runs on April 11 against Moravian Academy. Ironically, heading into the Shenandoah Valley game, Panther Valley scored just 22 runs in its previous nine games combined. In two games this season against Shenandoah Valley, the Lady Panthers have outscored the Lady Devils by a combined score of 41-28.PERFECT PITCHING- Tamaqua's Bailey Pedersen threw a perfect game last Thursday in her team's 10-0 victory over Blue Mountain. Pedersen faced 18 batters and struck out 11 Eagles in her six perfect innings of work. Pedersen also recorded a no-hitter on April 19 against Mahanoy Area (a 10-0 victory). The senior pitcher finished the regular season with a 14-3 record, which is the most wins by a pitcher in the Times News area this season.SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST- In Thursday afternoon's season finale against Weatherly, Jim Thorpe's Maggie Holloway no-hit the Lady Wreckers through five innings, en route to an 11-0 Olympians victory. Holloway struck out a career-high 10 batters in the no-hitter. Holloway recorded all five of Jim Thorpe's wins on the season.HOME RUN LEADERBOARD- With the regular season winding to a close, the home run leader board stayed status quo this past week. Northern Lehigh's Kaitlin Hoffman and Northwestern's Brooke Wehr have five home runs apiece to lead the Times News area. Tamaqua's Cailyn Joseph is right behind with four long balls on the season.AND THEY'RE IN- Northern Lehigh and Pleasant Valley became the latest area teams to advance into the district playoffs. The Bulldogs (11-9) earned their tenth win of the season, and a spot in the District 11 Class AA Tournament, with a 6-0 victory over Wilson on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Pleasant Valley (9-9) clinched a spot in the District 11 Class AAAA Tournament with a 7-4 victory Thursday against East Stroudsburg North. Northern Lehigh joins Northwestern (12-8), Palmerton (10-9) and Tamaqua (15-5) in the District 11 playoffs.LACROSSEPLEASANT(LY) SURPRISED - This year marked the inaugural seasons for the Pleasant Valley boys and girls lacrosse teams at the varsity level. The boys finished with an overall record of 5-13, but the Bears scored in double-figures in all five of their victories this season. Meanwhile, the Lady Bears finished with an 8-9 record and were one win shy of qualifying for the District 11 playoffs in their first varsity season. Pleasant Valley had a shot to earn a postseason berth in its final regular season game, but suffered a 16-11 setback to Nazareth on Monday (who also needed that win to advance to the District Tournament). Savannah Bauman scored six goals against the Blue Eagles and finished her sophomore season with a team-leading 55 goals in just 17 games.