District softball draw slots SBC Bay trio into loaded bracket

Huron, Edison and Margaretta have battled all year long in the heavily contested SBC Bay Division. When the district softball tournament starts up in two weeks, they'll potentially have to deal with each other a bit more. "It helps (to play in the SBC Bay)," Huron coach Jude Schmidt said. "Definitely helps. It's good to have a conference like that." That trio of teams slots into what could be the most up-in-the-air bracket of any after the OHSAA's district softball draw Sunday. It's Division III's New Riegel district, with Huron seeded No. 1, Edison No. 2 and Margaretta No. 6. The bracket also features strong rosters with powerful pitching from No. 3 Colonel Crawford, No. 4 Ashland Crestview and No. 5 Bucyrus. "There's probably six or seven teams that could win it," Margaretta coach Scott Dickman said. Each softball district's seeding comes from the coaches in a given district. In the final week of April, they each submitted a ranking order of the squads in their district. Those were tallied up like points, with the top and bottom seed of each team being thrown out to avoid outliers. Once the points are tallied and each team is seeded, the coaches joined a Zoom call to assemble the bracket. Each coach placed his or her team on a bracket line, from the best seed to the worst. The only rule is that the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds can't line up to meet until the district final. Naturally, the top seed picks the top line of the bracket, which guarantees being the home team all the way through, along with a first-round bye. "If you're gonna go far, you gotta beat them anyway," Schmidt said. "... We go out and shoot for singles and doubles, our pitching keeps us in every game." Each bracket features two rounds of sectionals that feed into the district semifinal and final stages. The sectional games are played at the home field of the superior seed, with the district semis and final played at the neutral site that each district is named after. In the New Riegel district, Huron and Edison both got byes but Margaretta was dealt a tougher hand, having to play a sectional opener against Western Reserve before lining up with Crestview. "The two teams that are one and two are two very good teams, and we beat them both," Dickman said. "We've got to beat them all to get there anyway." "I was a little surprised," Schmidt added. "… I thought they would be higher than that." If weather doesn't cause any problems, the New Riegel district's sectional finals are scheduled for May 14, followed by the district semifinals on May 19 and the final on May 22. In softball, those gaps allow for teams to throw their best pitcher every game without any concerns. For top-seeded Huron, that could mean a heavy dose of Eliza Maloney, who's struck out nearly two batters per inning pitched this season, with Kennedy Camp and Jenny Cobleigh available in relief. Edison only has one main pitching option in Kira Appeman. Margaretta's pitchers, Jayla Caponi and Mariah Fields, have been used more interchangeably this season. At the time of the softball draw, Huron, Edison and Margaretta each sat with identical 6-2 records in SBC Bay Division play, and rain Monday meant that won't change for at least another day (Huron can temporarily move ahead after shifting its Monday game to Danbury's turf field). They could enter the tournament sharing a league title, or their final few league games could throw them off course. Regardless, they'll enter district play looking to make major noise in a high-powered bracket. Their time beating up on each other all season could come in handy. "Don't know if (the non-SBC teams) play the competition night in and night out," Dickman said. "… We played really good competition this year, and hopefully we put it together at the right time." Sectional matchups for area teams: Division III (at New Riegel) No. 1 Huron vs. winner of No. 10 Willard/No. 11 Bucyrus WynfordNo. 6 Margaretta vs. No. 12 Western ReserveNo. 2 Edison vs. winner of No. 5 Bucyrus/No. 6 Carey Division I (at Fostoria) No. 15 Sandusky vs. No. 16 Toledo Waite The SBC's only Division I representative in softball this year is Sandusky, which will play against Waite on May 10. That's the only game in the Fostoria district that day, with all the other openers taking place May 12. The Blue Streaks put together a winning stretch in mid-April to move to 3-3 in SBC Lake play before hitting a rough patch to end the month. A win over Waite would send Sandusky to a matchup with No. 2-seed Holland Springfield, which is ranked No. 6 in the state in Division I in the Ohio Softball Coaches Poll. Division II (at Willard) No. 2 Bellevue vs. winner of No. 6 Shelby/No. 9 VermilionNo. 7 Tiffin Columbian vs. No. 8 Norwalk Bellevue head coach Walt Snyder has coached the Lady Red for more than three decades, making the praise he gave his team earlier this season that much more notable. "They are a group that's like no other I've ever had," Snyder said on April 14. "They come to play on gameday, they really do. Some of the things that they do in a game surprise me. Right now, they're gameday players ... They're just a unique bunch, and I'm very happy to have them." Bellevue gets the chance to prove that in a winnable Division II district bracket that will conclude at Willard. Sophomore Maci Smythe, who threw a perfect game earlier this season, should get the ball in the circle throughout the tournament to try and keep her sub-1.00 ERA at that miniscule level. Opposite the Lady Red in the bracket is No. 1-seed Lexington. Smythe could meet her match in the form of Lexington's Jillian Bammann, who hit three home runs in a doubleheader on April 3. If Tiffin Columbian can find a way to get outs defensively, there won't be a much more dangerous player in this bracket than Tornadoes leadoff hitter Bri Landers. She's hitting .606 on the season with 46 stolen bases. Division III (at Genoa) No. 1 Oak Harbor vs. winner of No. 9 Toledo Rogers/No. 10 RossfordNo. 6 Perkins at No. 5 MaumeeNo. 3 Clyde vs. No. 7 Port Clinton Oak Harbor will likely finish fourth in the SBC Bay Division, but Rockets coach Chris Rawski believes that makes their No. 1 district seed even more important. "It's a credit to the toughness of the SBC," Rawski said, "and a credit to the players for the hard work and rattling off some wins here lately." The Rockets are led by Kent State shortstop commit Reagan Schultz, who spends much of her time in an Oak Harbor uniform pitching while raking out of the two-spot. Senior Ellie Hanselman leads off, with the Gregory sisters (Remi and Porter) providing pop out of the three and four spots in the lineup. "Don't know that the district is super strong this year," Rawski said. "... We're gonna go all in on the tournament games." Clyde, which currently sits second in the SBC Lake Division behind Bellevue, could also make a run if its freshman pitching tandem of Skylar Colvin and Maddie Dukeshire can give a strong batting lineup a chance. Kendall Bailey leads the Fliers with a .525 average. Division IV (at Shelby) No. 1 Monroeville vs. winner of No. 10 Vanlue/No. 11 New LondonNo. 4 St. Paul vs. winner of No. 5 Lucas/No. 8 Seneca East Division IV (at Oak Harbor) No. 1 New Riegel vs. winner of No. 7 St. Mary Central Catholic/No. 11 Cardinal StritchNo. 2 Hopewell-Loudon vs. winner of No. 8 Danbury/No. 10 Toledo Emmanuel ChristianNo. 3 Gibsonburg vs. winner of No. 6 Arcadia/No. 9 Toledo Christian The SBC features strong teams in the Division IV Oak Harbor bracket while Firelands Conference power Monroeville earned the top seed in Division IV's Shelby district. Monroeville is led by two-way threat Payton Scheid along with a deep batting lineup, the type of combination that could key a deep postseason run. New Riegel is ranked No. 2 in the state in Division IV this week, making that a tough potential second-round matchup if Allie Weilnau and SMCC get past Cardinal Stritch. Gibsonburg has also had a strong season in the SBC River Division, hitting 24 home runs so far with Jenna Bloomfield's 12 leading the way.