IHSAA Softball Tourney Pairings Revealed

Monday, April 29, 2019 at 7:16 AM

By IHSAA, news release

See who your favorite high school softball team has to face in their postseason opener.

(Indianapolis, Ind.) - For the 35th consecutive year, the pairings for the IHSAA Softball State Tournament were announced this evening and 373 teams placed into sectional brackets.

Sectional action runs May 20‐25 with the 64 survivors moving into a one‐game regional round on Tuesday, May 28, and the four‐team semi‐states on Saturday, June 1. The four state championship games, scheduled for Saturday, June 8, will be played at Purdue University’s Bittinger Stadium in West Lafayette for the second year.

Host schools will announce playing schedules in the days to come which will then be added to the online brackets at MaxPreps.com.

Two‐time defending Class 3A state champion New Palestine, also top‐ranked in this week’s state coaches poll from the Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports Association (ICGSA), will host Beech Grove in Sectional 27. The Dragons have won 13 straight tournament games the last two seasons.

Pioneer, the defending state champion in Class A and the top‐ranked team this week, will face North White in its assignment in Sectional 50 at North Miami.

Other No. 1 teams include Class 4A Lake Central which drew a bye and will await the Lowell‐Hammond Morton winner in Sectional 1. Class 2A No. 1 Bremen will meet Prairie Heights in the Sectional 35 bye game at Westview.

Among the other defending state champions, Class 4A’s Decatur Central, currently ranked No. 2, will host Roncalli in the Sectional 11 opening game. And second‐ranked Speedway, last year’s 2A state champion, will host Monrovia in the Sectional 43 bye game.

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.

4A Sectional 14 at Bloomington South (6 teams)

G1: Shelbyville vs. Bloomington South.

G2: East Central vs. Columbus North.

G3: G1 winner vs. G2 winner.

G4: Bloomington North vs. Columbus East.

Championship: G3 winner vs. G4 winner.

3A Sectional 29 at Madison Consolidated (6 teams)

G1: Greensburg vs. Madison Consolidated.

G2: Batesville vs. Lawrenceburg.

G3: G1 winner vs. G2 winner.

G4: South Dearborn vs. Franklin County.

Championship: G3 winner vs. G4 winner.