Big Blue may await Firebirds in tourney
If No. 1 Lakota West and No. 4 Hamilton win their opening games, the teams will play May 16.
Monday, May 05, 2008
SHARONVILLE — The Lakota West High School baseball team could be looking at a familiar and historically difficult foe in the Division I Cincinnati II sectional.
The defending state champion Firebirds (18-1) grabbed the No. 1 seed in the tournament draw Sunday, May 4, at Princeton. That was not a surprise.
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Get latest headlines via RSS feeds"We've been a little inconsistent recently," said West coach Bill Dreisbach, whose squad has already wrapped up the Greater Miami Conference title. "I'm hoping we can really start to solidify all areas of our game so when we get to the tournament, we can be clicking on all cylinders."
The Firebirds will open at home May 14, facing either Middletown (3-16) or Winton Woods (2-14).
In the bottom portion of the upper bracket, Hamilton (12-11) is the fourth seed. Host Big Blue also will play May 14 against the winner of the May 12 contest between visiting Talawanda (14-8) and Western Brown (15-3).
If the seeds are correct, HHS and West will square off for a sectional crown May 16 at Princeton. The Firebirds notched 8-3 and 8-7 wins over Big Blue earlier this season.
"I think this is the toughest sectional in Cincinnati," Dreisbach said. "It's basically a GMC tournament with some added quality teams."
Hamilton coach Dan Bowling said he chose the upper bracket for two reasons. No. 1, whoever gets out of this bracket will be looking at a possible berth in the Columbus regional. No. 2, most of the other top seeds avoided West by heading to the lower bracket.
"You're going up against a top seed, but you've got to beat a good team sometime anyway," Bowling said. "West is a good team, but I think it's a team that can be beaten.
"You hope that since we haven't had a real great year, the kids will look at the tournament as the second season," he added, stressing that his team can't afford to look past THS or Western Brown.
In the lower bracket, Fairfield (7-13) visits Edgewood (15-8) on May 12, with the winner heading to second-seeded Lakota East (13-8) on May 14. No. 3 Mason (13-9) meets Princeton (11-8) in the other sectional semifinal.
The Indians and Cougars will play a regular-season game Friday at Waterworks Park.
"We're angry with ourselves for being in the position to get the ninth seed," Fairfield coach Larry Price said. "But as far as we're concerned, we can beat anybody if we play well. Maybe the key for us is how well we play this week heading into the tournament."
The Indians have won their last four games.
All brackets online
All prep baseball and softball tournament brackets can be viewed online at www.swdab.org.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2194 or rcassano@coxohio.com.
