"A" Bracket's teams:
#1 seed: Triway
#2 seed: Norwayne
(the rest, I don't know the seeds)
Northwestern (West Salem)
Loudonville
Hillsdale
Wellington
Black River
"B" Bracket's teams:
#1 seed: Tuslaw
#2 seed: Canton Central Catholic
(the rest, I don't know the seeds)
Waynedale
Chippewa
Orrville
East Canton
Smithville
OHSAA Tournament Bracket: http://brackets.ohsaa.org/bracket.aspx?not=14&t=2134&ts=4802&ia=1&sp=22&dv=3&g=b
Here are some of my thoughts:
- Tuslaw and Triway, the two #1 seeds, took the byes and ended up in the same half of the bracket, which could produce a 3rd meeting between the two schools if seeds hold. The two state-ranked, PAC-7 foes split their season series last week.
- The other big name will once again be Canton Central Catholic, a #2 seed this year, who has won the district the last 5 years in a row. Norwayne, the other #2 seed, beat CCC earlier this year, which adds a twist.
- The "A" bracket seems to have very good depth. As always, Northwestern finds themself in the mix with another solid team. Hillsdale is not as good as they have been the last 2 years, IMO, but they are still good and can be a very dangerous team to face in the tournament. Loudonville has surprised me somewhat this year, and has a solid, over-.500 record.
- The "B" bracket's teams seem to fall off quite considerably after the first 2 seeds. Other than East Canton, about whom I know very little, none of the other 4 teams (Waynedale, Chippewa, Orrville, and Smithville) has more than 6 wins on the year (17 wins between the 4 of them, per The Daily Record as of 4/29).
- The first big game that sticks out to me (if seeds hold) is a potential rematch between Norwayne and Canton Central Catholic in the District Semifinal on 5/19 at 2:00pm @ Norwayne HS. Norwayne's Jac Strickler has been dominant so far this year (3-0, 0.00 ERA, 25 IP, 0 ER, 31 K, 8 BB on the mound, .440 avg, 3 HR, 17 RBI, 17 R at the plate, stats per The Daily Record as of 4/29), and may be the district's best chance of knocking off reigning champ CCC early on, with other big-game pitchers being Tuslaw's Zorger and Triway's Wharton/Polen who could potentially face the Crusaders in the district final. In order for this Norwayne/CCC rematch to happen, though, Norwayne would have to beat Wellington and get by Northwestern/Loudonville first. CCC would only have to beat Smithville and Waynedale/Chippewa, which they should do easily.
- As mentioned earlier, another potential match-up could be between state-ranked league rivals Tuslaw and Triway. Tuslaw's ace Zorger and Triway's Wharton went head-to-head in their first meeting last week with the Titans winning 1-0 with a bottom-of-the-7th run off Zorger. In the second meeting, Tuslaw won 9-5 at their place. This could make for an exciting match-up if it happens.
