Play Ball: IHSAA Announces Softball Tournament Draw

Press release by Indiana High School Athletic Association (Indianapolis, Ind.) - A record three hundred seventy‐eight (378) teams – one better than 2010 ‐ were drawn and placed into brackets tonight for the start of the 33rd Annual IHSAA Softball State Tournament Series. Sectional action runs May 22‐27 with the 64 survivors moving into a one‐game regional round on Tuesday, May 30. From there, 32 teams will square off in four‐team semi‐states on Saturday, June 3, with the four state championship games scheduled for Saturday, June 10 at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis. Host schools will announce playing schedules in the days to come which will then be added to the online brackets at MaxPreps.com. Class A defending state champion Borden, also top‐ranked in this week’s state coaches poll from the Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports Association (ICGSA), will take on South Central (Elizabeth) in Sectional 62 at Lanesville. Other No. 1 teams include Class 4A Penn, last year’s state runner‐up, which will host LaPorte in the Sectional 3 bye game. Class 3A No. 1 New Palestine will host Herron in the Sectional 26 opener and Class 2A’s Union County will host Northeastern in the Sectional 41 opening game. Among the other defending state champions, Class 4A’s Avon will meet Plainfield in Sectional 12 bye game at Terre Haute North Vigo. Lebanon, last year’s 3A state champion and currently ranked second, will face North Montgomery in Sectional 25 at Tri‐West Hendricks. Evansville Mater Dei, last year’s Class 2A champion and ranked sixth this week, will take on South Spencer in the Sectional 48 opening game at Forest Park. Also of note, Tecumseh extended its state record 14th consecutive sectional championship a year ago and will look to continue that string after drawing the bye in Sectional 64 at Springs Valley. About the Draw To conduct the random drawing for the softball state tournament, the IHSAA places ping‐pong balls representing each school in a given sectional into a lottery‐style air mix machine. A motorized fan in the bottom of the machine blows the balls around the inside of the transparent container and air then forces each ball up through a tube in random order. For example, the first ball retrieved from the machine will be the visiting team in game one with the second ball representing the home team in game one. The third ball to come out is the visitor in game two and the fourth ball the home team in game two. That same method is followed through all 64 sectionals and eight semi‐states.   Class 4A Sectional 14 at Bloomington North  G1: Bloomington South vs. Columbus North G2: Bloomington North vs. East Central G3: Winner of G1 vs. Winner of G2 G4: Shelbyville vs. Columbus East Championship: Winner of G3 vs. Winner of G4   Class 3A Sectional 29 at Madison Consolidated   G1: Rushville Consolidated vs. Batesville G2: South Dearborn vs. Madison Consolidated G3: Greensburg vs. Connersville G4: Lawrenceburg vs. Franklin County G5: Winner G1 vs. Winner of G2 G6: Winner of G3 vs. Winner of G4 Championship: Winner of G5 vs. Winner of G6   Class 2A Sectional 45 at Switzerland County  G1: North Decatur vs. Austin G2: Southwestern (Hanover) vs. South Ripley G3: Winner of G1 vs. Winner of G2 G4: Milan vs. Switzerland County Championship: Winner of G3 vs. Winner of G4   Class 1A Sectional 60 at Rising Sun  G1: Rising Sun vs. South Decatur G2: Jac-Cen-Del vs. Hauser G3: Winner of G1 vs. Winner of G2 G4: Oldenburg Academy vs. Shawe Memorial Championship: Winner of G3 vs. Winner of G4