High School Baseball and Softball: Regionals
The Kansas State High School Athletics Association released the seeding for this seasons baseball and softball regional tournaments on Wednesday and several area teams find themselves sitting atop their brackets heading into competition next week.
The first of those is the 17-1 Iola Mustangs who find themselves staring down the barrel at a path to state that is tougher than most.
They open things up versus a Prairie View team that they swept 11-1 and 11-4 in LaCygne on April 19.
A win there pits the Mustangs against either a very good 14-5 Frontenac team who is hosting this years tournament or a 10-8 Girard team with some strong arms.
It will be interesting to see if Iola skipper Mark Percy gives the starting nod to senior Isaac Vink or sophomore Cal Leonard in the Prairie View game so he can save junior ace Derek Bycroft for the regional final.
The 17-3 Humboldt Cubs also find themselves in the drivers seat of their regional tournament which is also at home.
The Cubs will have a bye in the first round before facing the winner of Whitewater-Remington (7-13) or Fredonia (6-12).
If they make it through all of that, a strong Jayhawk-Linn team will most likely be waiting for the Cubs in the championship game.
Both the Iola and Humboldt softball teams are two-seeds in their tournaments.
In another region, the Lady Cubs who ran through the Tri-Valley league and finished 18-2 overall with their only two losses coming against a Burlington team, that very well could win a state title in 4A-II, but unfortunately thats not the reality.
Theyll open things up against an Erie team that theyve blown out four times this season before facing the winner of Northeast Arma and a Cherryvale team that theyve swept. If they make it through all of that, the 17-1 one-seed and host Southeast Cherokee will be waiting and will be a very tough out if Humboldt wants to return to the state tournament.
Meanwhile, the 6-14 Fillies will open things up on Tuesday with a game against a 5-15 Anderson County team that they split with at home early in the season.
The Fillies have revamped their roster since then and come in confident that they can advance past the Lady Bulldogs.
However, waiting just behind Anderson County is 19-1 Burlington. The Lady Cats swept Iola 16-1 and 6-2 on May 3 and that 6-2 loss gives head coach Chris Weide hope for a potential upset.
Yates Center softball and baseball both head to regionals as the three-seed. Softball will open things up against a dreadful 0-20 Altoona Midway team before facing a solid 15-5 Leon-Bluestem team who is hosting the tournament as the two seed. If they manage a win there, theyll face one-seed Rosalia-Flinthills.
The Yates Center boys have a bye in the opening round and will face a 14-5 Cedar Vale/ Dexter team who is the two-seed. Waiting in the championship game most likely will be host and one-seed West Elk (15-3). The Patriots swept the Wildcats back on April 12.
