Baseball, softball regionals

By: 
Brent Sumner
Staff Writer

Wildcats vs the Comets

    There’s no shortage of talent in the Interstate Eight Conference has baseball and softball teams gear up for regional action.
    No matter how the teams do during the regular season, the I-8 conference seems to always push their teams farther into the postseason, and this year could prove to be no different.
    To start out, let’s talk about the 2A baseball Regional, which will be hosted at Herscher.
    Reed-Custer, the defending state champions,  enters as the third seed, with Wilmington having the fifth seed. The two teams will meet in the opening round on Thursday, May 18, at 4:30 p.m.
    Seneca (8) will open up against Bishop McNamara (7), with the winner advancing to face the host team, Herscher (2) on Wednesday (5/17).
    The winner of that second round game will play on Saturday against the winner of Wilmington/Reed-Custer. The Regional championship will be held at 11 a.m.
    The winner will advance to the Sectional Semifinal on May 24 at 4:30 p.m., and they will play the Chicago (University) Regional champion.
    As for softball, Wilmington and Reed-Custer could wind up playing each other again, in what seems to be an annual Regional match-up.
    However, the Lady Wildcats, who enter as the seventh seed, will have to win their first game against Fieldcrest (6).
    Wilmington will travel to Fieldcrest on Monday at 4:30 p.m.
    If the Lady Wildcats win, they will advance to face Reed-Custer, who enters the Regional as the second seed.
    The Lady Comets will host the remainder of the Regional, with the winner of the second round going on to face the winner of Momence (4) vs. Peotone (5) in the title match on Saturday.
    In the Sectional Semifinals, the Braidwood Regional champ will square off agains the winner of the Seneca Regional.
    Seneca holds the number one seed, and faces a high probability of making out of their Regional, as their bracket has four Chicago teams and Illiana Christian (4).
    The Sectional Semifinal will be held on May 23, with the game starting at 6:30 p.m.