IHSAA Softball State Tournament Starts May 23; Sectional Pairings Announced

The sectional pairing show took place Sunday evening.

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INDIANAPOLIS - The road to the state championship has been laid out for high school softball teams across the state. 

The pairings for the 37th IHSAA Softball State Tournament were announced Sunday evening with 372 teams placed into sectional brackets.

Sectionals featuring local teams will take place at Bloomington North, Franklin County, Switzerland County, and Rising Sun. 

Sectional action runs May 23-28 with the 64 survivors moving into a one-game regional round on Tuesday, May 31 and the four-team semi-states on Saturday, June 4.

The four state championship games will be played June 10-11 at Purdue University’s Bittinger Stadium in West Lafayette.

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.

Sectional pairings for local teams are listed below. 

Class 4A Sectional 14 at Bloomington North (6)

G1: Columbus North vs. East Central

G2: Bloomington South vs. Shelbyville

G3: Bloomington North vs. G1 winner

G4: Columbus East vs. G2 winner

Championship: G3 winner vs. G4 winner

Class 3A Sectional 29 at Franklin County (7)

G1: Lawrenceburg vs. Franklin County

G2: South Dearborn vs. Batesville

G3: Connersville vs. Greensburg

G4: Rushville Consolidated vs. G1 winner

G5: G2 winner vs. G3 winner

Championship: G4 winner vs. G5 winner

Class 2A Sectional 45 at Switzerland County (6)

G1: Southwestern (Hanover) vs. North Decatur

G2: Austin vs. South Ripley

G3: Switzerland County vs. G1 winner

G4: Milan vs. G2 winner

Championship: G3 winner vs. G4 winner

Class 1A Sectional 60 at Rising Sun (5)

G1: Hauser vs. Oldenburg

G2: Jac-Cen-Del vs. Rising Sun

G3: South Decatur vs. G1 winner

Championship: G2 winner vs. G3 winner.