The All “A” Classic for baseball and softball will take center stage this weekend in Owensboro.
The All “A” Classic state baseball tournament will take place at Daviess County High School on April 26-27 while the All “A” Classic state softball tournament will be held at Jack C. Fisher Park in Owensboro April 26-27.
Beechwood represents the 9th Region while Walton-Verona comes out of the 8th as the final eight baseball teams standing and on the same side of the bracket. The two will have their work cut out to face one another in Sunday’s semifinals. The Tigers meet Sayre on Saturday in the quarterfinals, the Spartans ranked No. 3 in the state in the latest Prep Baseball Report state power rankings. The Bearcats take on Lyon County, ranked No. 13 in the latest power rankings.
Beechwood and Sayre play at 3 p.m. CST on Saturday, Walton-Verona and Lyon County at 5:30 p.m. CST on Saturday. Winners from those quarterfinal matchups will then face one another on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. CST. The championship game is Sunday at 1 p.m. CST.
On the other side of the bracket, Campbellsville and Raceland meet and Owensboro Catholic and Hazard matchup. Those game times are 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. CST on Saturday with the quarterfinal winners headed to Sunday’s semifinals at 8:30 a.m. CST. Owensboro Catholic would be the favorite to come out of the top half of the bracket, ranked No. 10 in the statewide power rankings.
Beechwood heads to Owensboro on a roll. After a 3-4 start to the season, they’ve won 11 of 13 to improve to 14-6. The pitching has really ramped up, allowing one run or less in nine of their last 13 contests. The pitching depth has shown its strength as six pitchers have logged at least 11 innings of work, all with an ERA of 3.15 or below.
Walton-Verona got off to a 9-4 start, but are 3-6 since and currently sitting at 12-10. They own some impressive victories over Beechwood, Simon Kenton and Louisville Eastern. They have shown some balanced hitting in the lineup with five everyday starters hitting at least .324 while Bronson Corpus and Aidan Kerns lead the pitching rotation.
Holy Cross is the lone team out of NKY in the All “A” Classic state softball tournament. The softball tournament is set up differently as 16 teams will descend on Owensboro to play in pool play with four pools of four teams each and then the top two teams in each pool will play in a single-elimination tournament on Sunday.
Holy Cross is in a pool with Livingston Central, Whitefield Academy and Trimble County. On Saturday, they’ll play Trimble County at 8:30 a.m. CST, Whitefield Academy at 12 p.m. CST and Livingston Central at 5 p.m. CST. They’d most likely need to win two of those games to advance to Sunday’s single-elimination tournament.
The Indians started the season 6-3, but have been able to play just two games since April 1, currently sitting at 7-4. They’re 4-1 in their last five games.
Owensboro Catholic is the reigning champion in baseball, Livingston Central the defending champ in softball.