By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
Sometimes it happens like this. In the eight-team Ninth Region baseball tournament draw Thursday evening, the teams ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the region, Beechwood (24-8) and Ryle (25-10), drew one another.
So did the teams ranked Nos. 3 and 4 – Conner (25-12) and Covington Catholic (23-9). Should be an interesting first round Sunday at Thomas More Stadium.
And yes, you could see a district finals rematch in the regional final Wednesday night with either the 33rd District finalists – Ryle and Conner – or the 35th District winners – CovCath and Beechwood – facing each other again.
But if it this year’s regional mimics last year’s, when a pair of district losers – St. Henry and Beechwood – faced each other for the right to go downstate after a lightning-interrupted, upset-filled first two rounds, all bets are off.
Which has to be good news for the other four teams in the field with 36th District winner Highlands (19-14) facing 33rd runner-up St. Henry (13-19) in a matchup of the No. 5 and No. 6 teams in the region with the Nos. 7 and 8, Dixie Heights (19-21), the 33rd winner going against Newport Central Catholic (12-17).
All four first-round games will be played Sunday at Thomas More Stadium starting at 10 a.m., with games at 1 p.m., 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Semifinals will be played at 5:30 and 8 p.m. Monday with the championship game Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Tickets are $5 for students, $8 for adults.
After the draw Thursday at Beechwood, the room was quiet, as were the coaches. Sure, no district winner wanted to draw either a losing Beechwood team that fell to CovCath or a Conner team that lost to Ryle.
“But you gotta’ beat somebody tough,” Beechwood Coach Kevin Gray said so no matter if that game comes Sunday, Monday or Wednesday, you still have to win three games to go downstate. “It’s going to be tough for us and CovCath,” he said of any possible rematch.
The same for Ryle and Conner. “I’m OK with it,” Conner’s Brad Arlinghaus said of getting CovCath “right off the bat. It’s wide open. It’s going to be very interesting.”
While the top four teams are looking at one another, could Jeremy Baioni’s Highlands team at No. 5 sneak by some people?
“Not the way we’ve been finishing games,” Baioni said of the Bluebirds who have lost five one-run games, often with the lead. “If someone could predict how this tournament is going to go . . . “, well, they can’t, the coaches say.
And not that the draw has much to do with it as last year’s championship matchup of two district losers made clear. “Some years you have a good draw and get your brains beat out,” Baioni said.
One flip in the schedule after the draw has the NewCath-Dixie Heights game moving from the 10 a.m. slot to 1 p.m. Sunday because of religious considerations. Ryle and Beechwood will open at 10 a.m.
With all districts finishing up no later than Tuesday, coaches should be able to call on any starter in the rotation. But how they make that call is going to make this tough to pick.
As Baioni said, what makes this all so tough is one simple thing all coaches must contend with: “high school pitching.”
You just never know.
Here’s the full schedule:
SUNDAY QUARTERFINALS
RYLE (25-10) vs. BEECHWOOD (24-8), 10 a.m.
DIXIE HEIGHTS (19-21) vs. NEWCATH (12-17), 1 p.m.
HIGHLANDS (19-12) vs. ST. HENRY (13-19), 4 p.m.
COVCATH (23-9) vs. CONNER (25-12), 7 p.m.
MONDAY SEMIFINALS
DIXIE HEIGHTS-NEWCATH winner vs. RYLE-BEECHWOOD winner, 5 p.m.
HIGHLANDS-ST. HENRY winner vs. COVCATH-CONNER winner, 8 p.m.
WEDNESDAY CHAMPIONSHIP
Semifinals winners meet at 7 p.m.