CHAMPAIGN — The IHSA announced the pairings for the upcoming baseball and softball state tournaments last last month, and here are the regional pairings for our local teams.
The No. 4-ranked St. Joseph-Ogden (22-0) softball team will open the postseason May 19 at home against Georgetown-Ridge Farm. The Spartans are the top seed in their own regional, and should advance into sectionals fairly easily. Granted, nothing in the playoffs is ever guaranteed, but its doubtful a team as focused as the Spartans would drop a home game in regionals. If the Spartans do advance to sectionals in Paxton, they will face the winner of the Watseka Regional. Hoopeston is the No. 1 seed in that regional, while Prairie Central is second and the host Warriors are third. SJ-O has yet to face any of those teams this season, though the Spartans did 10-run rule No. 5 seed Bismarck-Henning.
The Unity Rockets (7-15) have a much more difficult road to hoe in order to advance to the Paxton Sectional. The Rockets open their postseason at St. Teresa on May 18, a team they lost to 10-0 just last week. Unity is 1-8 in the Okaw Valley and all five teams in the Monticello Sectional are conference rivals. The Rockets have lost to other regional teams in Maroa-Forsyth and Monticello, though they did clip Clinton 2-1 Monday. The winner of the Monticello Regional will play the winner of the Olympia Regional in Paxton. The top-ranked and top-seeded Spartans are 23-1 and are coming off an ugly loss in last year's state title game. Whoever gets Oly in sectionals will get their money's worth.
Monticello Regional
Mon., May 18
Game 1 at 4:30 pm: (5) Unity at (4) St. Teresa
Tue., May 19
Game 2 at 4:30 pm: (1) Maroa-Forsyth vs. Winner Game 1
Wed., May 20
Game 3 at 4:30 pm: (2) Monticello vs. (3) Clinton
Sat., May 23
Game 4 at 11:00 am: Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 3
St. Joseph-Ogden Regional
Tue., May 19
Game 1 at 4:30 pm: (1) St. Joseph-Ogden vs. (4) Georgetown.-Ridge Farm
Game 2 at 7:00 pm: (2) St. Thomas More vs. (3) Westville
Sat., May 23
Game 3 at 11:00 am: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2
Baseball
There will be no crash course playoff runs for the Unity and SJ-O baseball teams; instead the two rivals will play each other in first round of regionals. The Spartans (9-15-2) are the No. 2 seed in the Unity Regional while the host Rockets (8-14) are seeded third. The winner of that game will most likely play top-seeded St. Thomas More for the regional crown. Unity fell 6-4 to the Sabers Monday, while the Spartans aren't scheduled to see their conference rivals until next week. Unity and SJ-O do however play each other Friday, which should be a good judge of where the teams are entering the postseason.
Unity Regional
Mon., May 18
Game 1 at 4:30 pm: (5) Westville at (4) Bismarck-Henning
Wed., May 20
Game 2 at 4:30 pm: (1) St. Thomas More vs. Winner Game 1
Thu., May 21
Game 3 at 4:30 pm: (2) St. Joseph-Ogden vs. (3) Unity
Sat., May 23
Game 4 at 11:00 am: Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 3
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