South Range district should sizzle front

May 2, 2017 at 12:05a.m.

Raiders, Clippers have top seeds

By tom williams

beaver township

When it comes to high school tournament brackets, you’d have to look pretty far and wide to find a more competitive one than the Division III softball district that will be played at South Range High School.

“There are seven teams that could come out of the bracket, in my opinion,” South Range head coach Jeff DeRose said on Monday. “Columbiana is pretty good this year, Springfield beat us.

“United’s pitcher [Anna Paterson] has been lights out — she beat Springfield and had 14 strikeouts.”

The Raiders, the defending state runners-up, have the No. 1 seed. They are in a dogfight with Springfield and United to determine the final Inter-Tri County League Red Tier championship. (The league will disband at the conclusion of the regular season).

Last week, South Range and Springfield split their home-and-home series.

Columbiana, the leaders of the ITCL’s White Tier, has the second seed and Springfield is third. Cardinal Mooney has the four seed.

Waterloo, Ursuline and United have the five, six and seven seeds.

The district survivor won’t have a long time to celebrate. That’s because the regional semifinal game at Massillon High School will be on May 24 at 5 p.m. against the winner of the Leavittsburg district.

Champion, the leaders of the All-American Conference Blue Tier, has the top seed for the district games that will be played at LaBrae High School. The other seeds are Wickliffe, Newton Falls and Brookfield.

In 2015, Cheryl Weaver’s Golden Flashes won the state title. They were eliminated by South Range in last year’s regional.

Canfield, the leaders of the AAC Red Tier, has the number-one seed for the Solon District and Boardman is three.

In Division II, Hubbard has the top seed for the Alliance district, followed by Lakeview and West Branch.

In Division IV, Mathews has the top seed for the Warren district and Lisbon has it for Berlin Center.