Penn draws bye in baseball sectional

Beating the two-time defending state champion Penn baseball team won’t be an easy task in the 2024 state tournament — especially with the Kingsmen playing on their home field in the Class 4A sectional.

Then when the IHSAA draw came out on Sunday evening, the Kingsmen drew a bye into the semifinals, which will save some wear and tear on the pitching staff.

But the other five teams in the sectional will be ready.

The baseball sectionals around the state will be held from the week of May 20, with the championship games at the four sectional sites featuring local teams set for Memorial Day, May 27.

The opening round games at Penn will be on Thursday, May 23, with Elkhart facing Goshen in the opening game and Northridge taking on Warsaw in the second contest.

Then on Saturday morning, the two winners from Thursday will play at 10 a.m., with Penn and Concord to follow in the second semifinal game.

The championship game is set for 11 a.m. on Memorial Day.

Concord doesn’t play Penn in the regular season, but the much-improved Minutemen should have ace Braeden Messenger available to face the Kingsmen.

Northridge’s JT Tabor, who pitched an outstanding game against Penn early in the season in a 1-0 Raider loss, will also play a big part on who moves on to regional play.

In the Class 3A sectional at Marian, a strong Jimtown team will face South Bend St. Joseph in a tough Saturday semifinal game.

In the opening round, defending champion Marian is scheduled to play South Bend Clay, while South Bend rivals Riley and Washington will battle in the second game. The host Knights will be very big favorites to reach the title game.

Fairfield will host a 3A sectional on its new field turf in what should be a balanced sectional.

NorthWood will open the sectional against defending champion East Noble, while the host Falcons will play Northeast Corner Conference rival Lakeland in the second game.

In the semifinals, Wawasee will play West Noble, while the winners of the first two games will play each other.

NorthWood (10-4) beat Fairfield (11-5) 9-2 earlier this year. The Falcons own a 1-0 win over Lakeland.

In the Class 1A sectional at Fremont, Elkhart Christian will play the opening game against Hamilton, with the host Eagles waiting in the semifinals.

On the other side of the bracket, Bethany Christian will play Fort Wayne Canterbury, while defending champion and No. 9 Fort Wayne Blackhawk will open against Lakewood Park.

The title game is set for 7:30 p.m. Monday.

Like basketball, two regional champions will be crowned at one site, with winners moving on to a two-game semistate.

The closest regional sites are LaPorte, South Bend Clay and Plymouth. The north semistate sites are LaPorte, Oak Hill, Kokomo and Lafayette.

The state championship games will again be at Victory Field in Indianapolis on June 14 and 15.

The softball sectionals will be the same week as baseball, with championship games set for either Thursday or Friday of that week.

Marian is hosting a Class 3A softball sectional, but the games will be played in Newton Park in Lakeville.

Coach Brandy Eberhart’s Jimtown Jimmies will play South Bend Clay in a Monday semifinal game, with Marian waiting in the semifinals. Jimtown is currently 9-4 and will play Clay in an NIC game on May 6.

Defending state champion New Prairie will play a solid South Bend Riley team on Monday on the other side of the bracket. The winner of that game will face South Bend Washington.

Last spring, New Prairie beat Jimtown 10-0 in the sectional title game on their way to the state title.

In the 3A Fairfield Sectional, the host Falcons will play Northeast Corner Conference rival West Noble in a Monday opening-round game, following the match-up of Lakeland and defending sectional champion East Noble.

The semifinals are scheduled for Tuesday, with NorthWood set to face the West Noble-Fairfield winner and Wawasee awaiting the East Noble-Lakeland survivor. The title game is set for May 23.

Fairfield is 10-5 on the year and already owns victories over West Noble (9-4) and NorthWood (15-9). Freshman Madison Jones leads the Falcons with a .455 average and five homers.

Defending Class 4A state champion Penn will be a heavy favorite at the Northridge Sectional.

The Kingsmen drew Concord in Monday’s first game, while first-year Elkhart coach Matt Walker’s Elkhart Lions will play Warsaw in the second game.

In Wednesday’s semifinals, the host Raiders will play the winner of game 1, while Goshen drew a bye and will get the Elkhart-Warsaw winner.

We could get a rematch of last year’s title game, where the Kingsmen topped Elkhart 13-2.

Penn went on to beat South Bend St. Joseph in the regional, Lafayette Harrison and Lake Central in the semistate and No. 1 Roncalli in the title game.

The Kingsmen have won nine straight sectionals, although they haven’t always been in this sectional.

As in baseball, the 1A softball sectional will be at Fremont.

Bethany Christian does not have a softball team this season, so it will be just Elkhart Christian from this area in the four-team sectional.

The Eagles drew host Fremont in the second game on Monday, while Lakewood Park and Hamilton will play in the first game that evening.

The title game will be played on Friday.

As in baseball, softball will have a one-game regional (May 28) and two-game semistate (June 1).

The winner at Northridge will host the regional, while the winners at Marian, Fairfield and Fremont will all travel this season.

North semistate sites are West Lafayette (4A), Twin Lakes (3A), Warsaw (2A) and Frankfort (1A).

The state title games will be at Purdue’s Bittinger Stadium on June 7 and 8.