The Maryland Class 1A West Region I baseball and softball playoffs begin Thursday with a pair of quarterfinal games in Oakland.
Fourth-seeded Southern (8-8) hosts fifth-seeded Mountain Ridge (5-13) in baseball, and in softball, the fourth-seeded Rams (12-7) welcome fifth-seeded Fort Hill (5-14).
Both games have a first pitch of 5 p.m.
Northern enters the baseball postseason as the region’s top seed with a 17-2 record. The Huskies, who won 13 consecutive games in the middle of the season, are the champions of the Western Maryland Athletic Conference with a 7-1 mark.
The Huskies will take on the winner of Southern and Mountain Ridge in the region semifinals on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Allegany (13-4, 5-3 WestMAC) is the No. 2 seed and plays host to No. 3 Fort Hill (11-7, 4-4 WestMAC) in the other semifinal on Saturday at 11 a.m.
Northern and Allegany have split the past four region titles, with the Huskies advancing to the state semifinals in 2021 and ‘23 and Allegany in 2022.
The Campers are the top seed in the region softball playoffs following a 14-3 regular season and a fifth straight unbeaten WestMAC slate, ending with a 6-0 league record to capture the title.
Allegany will host the winner of Southern and Fort Hill in the region semifinals on Monday at 4:30 p.m. at Lions Field in LaVale.
Northern, riding a 10-game winning streak, slots in as the No. 2 seed. The Huskies are 14-4 with a 4-3 WestMAC record.
They welcome No. 3 Mountain Ridge (11-7, 4-3 WestMAC) in the other region semifinal game on Monday at 5 p.m.
Allegany, the defending Class 1A state champion, has won all four West Region I titles since the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association moved to a sub-region format with a state quarterfinal reseed.