The two teams advancing to the Maryland Class 1A West Region I title game will be decided today, and the West Virginia region playoffs begin this week.
Top-seeded Allegany (17-1), winner of the last six region championships, hosts No. 4 seed Mountain Ridge (8-11), and No. 2 seed Northern (12-7) welcomes No. 6 seed Southern (10-11).
Both games Monday have a start time of 4:30 p.m.
The region finals will be held on Wednesday at the site of the higher-seeded team.
Allegany defeated Mountain Ridge twice, 7-0 and 11-1, during the regular season, and Northern went 2-0 against Southern with 11-2 and 14-4 wins.
The Campers will likely start in the circle St. Francis signee Jordyn Sneathen (11-1, 1.11 ERA) against either Destinee Johnson (2-5, 4.93 ERA) or Juliana Burriss (0-1, 2.41 ERA).
Allegany’s Sadee Baker hits at a team-high .407 clip, and Savannah Walton leads the squad with 14 doubles.
Macy Barth tops the Miners with a .508 average with two triples, six doubles, 17 runs batted in and 27 runs scored.
Pitching probables in the Garrett County game are Northern’s Rain Ritchey (5-3, 1.46 ERA) and Southern’s Adeline Wilson (8-5, 3.17 ERA).
Ritchey’s .509 average is a Northern-best, adding three triples and six doubles.
Wilson, committed to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, tops the Rams with a .531 mark with eight home runs, two triples, nine doubles, 31 RBIs and 30 runs.
W.Va. playoffs begin
The West Virginia regional playoffs begin Monday, with four local teams in action.
The region tournaments use a double-elimination format. Champions advance to the state tournament at South Charleston’s Little Creek Park, to be held from May 27-June 4.
This is the first installment of the eight-team, double-elimination state tournament.
In the Class AAA, Region II playoffs, Hampshire (0-24) heads to Robert C. Byrd at 6 p.m., the winner on the road at Lewis County on Tuesday.
Region II’s top seed Keyser (20-4) will face the victor of Elkins and Bridgeport on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Frankfort (18-10) hosts South Harrison, and Moorefield (14-15) welcomes Berkeley Springs in the Class AA, Region II playoffs. Both games have 7 p.m. first pitches Monday.
Petersburg (22-4), the region’s No. 1 seed, awaits the Frankfort/South Harrison winner on Tuesday.
In Class A, Region II, East Hardy (8-11) plays a three-game series with Tygarts Valley for a spot in the state tournament.
Game 1 is at East Hardy on Monday at 6 p.m. with Game 2 to follow Wednesday.