Russia’s Makena Hoying throws a pitch during a nonconference game against Northmont on April 15 in Clayton. The Raiders were voted the No. 2 seed in the Dayton Division IV sectional and are scheduled to open postseason play on May 11 against either Twin Valley South or Lehman Catholic. They won district finals and earned regional berths the last two seasons.
Luke Gronneberg | Sidney Daily News
Russia received the highest seed of any area softball team and will look to start a third deep postseason run next week.
Softball tournament draw meetings were held throughout the state on Sunday. Seed voting began online early last week and concluded on Saturday. Results were tallied in preparation for Sunday’s meetings, during which teams placed themselves on their sectionals’ brackets by seed order.
The Raiders, which have won district titles each of the last two years, were voted the No. 2 seed in the Dayton Division IV sectional. They took a first-round bye and will open tournament play in a sectional final on May 11 by hosting the winner of No. 13 Twin Valley South vs. No. 14 Lehman Catholic.
Russia (13-6) will host either No. 11 Newton or No. 12 Triad in a district semifinal on May 16 and if victorious will play in a final on May 19 at a neutral site. The Raiders’ most likely district final opponent is Southeastern (11-5); the squads meet in a final last year, which Russia won 8-3.
The Div. IV regional is scheduled to be held on May 24 and 26 at Northmont High School.
Fort Loramie (11-11), which is tied with Russia for second place in SCAL standings, was voted the No. 4 seed in the Dayton D-IV sectional. The Redskins took a first-round bye and will open tournament play by hosting the winner of No. 7 National Trail and No. 16 Catholic Central on May 11.
If victorious, Fort Loramie will host an SCAL opponent on May 16. Houston (8-9) was voted the No. 11 seed and will host No. 15 Jackson Center (3-12) on May 11. The winner will face the Redskins in a district semifinal on May 16.
The winner of the district semifinal will play in a final on May 19 at a neutral location, likely against either No. 3 Ansonia or No. 5 Riverside.
The Pirates (12-7) will open tournament play in a sectional final on May 11 by hosting No. 9 Bradford and if victorious will play in a district semifinal on May 16, likely against Ansonia (13-7).
Botkins (1-14) was voted the No. 19 seed and will travel to either No. 6 Tri-County North or No. 17 Yellow Springs for a sectional final on May 11.
Complete brackets can be found online at ohsaa.org/swdab. The state tournament is scheduled to be held June 1-3 at Firestone Stadium in Akron.
Anna voted No. 6 seed in Dayton Div. III sectional
The Rockets (13-3), which are in first place in SCAL standings, were voted the No. 6 seed in the Dayton Div. III sectional and will start tournament play on May 8 by hosting No. 12 Bethel. If victorious, they’ll host No. 10 Brookville in a sectional final on May 10.
If Anna wins, it will play in a district semifinal on May 15, likely at No. 2 Arcanum (16-4).
Sidney voted No. 13 in Dayton D-I sectional
The Yellow Jackets (7-11) were voted the No. 13 seed in the Dayton Div. I sectional and will host No. 14 Middletown on May 8. If victorious, they will travel to No. 2 Miamisburg for a sectional final on May 10.
Contact Bryant Billing at (937) 538-4818, or follow @SidneyOHSports on Twitter and @BryantBillingSDN on Facebook.
