Postseason assignments will give softball playoffs a new feel

The IHSA's new four-class system has raised some eyebrows in terms of assignments already this school year and now it has raised even more.

Assignments for the softball postseason were released late last week, and Fox Valley area teams could end up playing postseason games as far south as Normal.

Class 4A

Hoping to make a serious run at a state championship, Bartlett will have a tough road to East Peoria. The Hawks, the top-ranked team in the Daily Herald's preseason Top 20, were assigned to the Schaumburg sectional along with such powers as Lake Park, Elk Grove and Glenbard North.

"It's pretty similar to last year," said Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith of the sectional setup. "But the super(sectional) is brutal. You combine the top teams in our sectional and the top teams in that other sectional and you have some of the best teams in the state."

The sectional opposite Schaumburg in the bracket, which does not yet have a host, includes West Aurora, Downers Grove South, Lockport, Naperville Central, Plainfield South, Plainfield Central and Wheaton Warrenville South, among others. The supersectional host also hasn't been designated yet. Downers South beat Bartlett 3-2 in last year's state quarterfinals.

"You have to remember that under this setup if you reach the supersectional that's the Elite Eight," said Wolfsmith. "So it would be appropriate to play a Downers South at that point. I know that whoever comes out of that supersectional will have earned their trophy."

Elsewhere in Class 4A, the remainder of the area's teams are in the NIU supersectional complex and they were all assigned to the Harlem sectional, where by IHSA geography rules, the regionals are pre-assigned.

Jacobs, another of the area's top teams, will host a regional that includes Dundee-Crown, Cary-Grove, Crystal Lake South and Prairie Ridge, while Streamwood hosts a regional that includes Elgin, Larkin, South Elgin and DeKalb. The other regional hosts in the Harlem complex are McHenry and Rockford Guilford. At NIU, the Harlem sectional winner will meet the Barrington sectional champ.

Class 3A

It certainly did not turn out the way Burlington Central coach Scot Sutherland thought it would.

Sutherland's Rockets, off to a 3-0 start behind 2 no-hitters and 35 strikeouts from junior Mackenzie Scott, are assigned to the Rochelle sectional and will compete in the Rosary regional along with Aurora Central Catholic, IMSA and Kaneland. Other regionals feeding into the Rochelle sectional are at Rock Falls, Belvidere and Yorkville.

If the Rockets can get out of the sectional, they would travel to Illinois State University for a supersectional date against a central Illinois team. Defending Class AA state champ Normal Community is part of the Metamora sectional field along with traditional powers Normal West and Morton.

"Not by any stretch of the imagination was I thinking it would go that way," Sutherland said. "There's pros and cons in thinking about where I thought we'd go and where we're going."

Where Sutherland thought his team would go is into a sectional that included Marengo and Huntley. Marengo advanced to the supersectional before losing to Bartlett last year and the Indians are the No. 1 ranked team in Class 3A by the ICA. Instead, the IHSA sent Marengo and Huntley to the Richmond-Burton sectional, which includes several Chicago schools along with good teams from Grayslake Central and Marian Central. A supersectional host hasn't yet been determined, nor has the other side of the bracket for a sectional that contains 15 Chicago schools.

"We'll be seeing some teams we don't normally see and there are some plusses to that," Sutherland said. "The bottom line is you are going to have to beat good teams to get where you want to be."

Class 2A/1A

In Class 2A, St. Edward and Hampshire were assigned to the same sub-sectional of a sectional that does not yet have a host. Their sectional feeds into the Benedictine supersectional. In Class 1A, Westminster Christian will face its first softball postseason in the Lanark Eastland sectional.