IHSAA softball, baseball sectional alignments resemble basketball

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

The IHSAA released its softball and baseball sectional alignments for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years Wednesday, and they are identical to the basketball sectionals for five area schools.

The only area schools whose softball and baseball sectionals look different than their basketball sectionals are Argos and Culver. They are in Class 1A, Sectional 51 with Elkhart Christian, North Judson, Oregon-Davis, South Central (Union Mills) and Triton. Trinity Greenlawn is in their girls and boys basketball sectionals but does not have a softball or baseball team, so the softball and baseball sectionals have only seven teams.

Trinity Greenlawn does not have a volleyball team, so the softball and baseball sectionals are the same as volleyball.

Rochester, Tippecanoe Valley, Caston, Pioneer and Winamac are in identical sectionals.

Rochester is in Class 2A, Sectional 38 with Eastern (Greentown), Lewis Cass, Manchester, Oak Hill and Wabash. Both the Rochester softball and baseball teams will seek repeat sectional titles this spring. Rochester won their first baseball regional title in June before the season ended with a loss to Illiana Christian in the semistate final.

Valley is in Class 3A, Sectional 20 with Columbia City, Fairfield, NorthWood, Wawasee and West Noble. There will be no reigning sectional champion in either the softball or baseball sectional. The most recent sectional title for any of these schools in softball was Valley’s in 2023.

Class 1A, Sectional 50 feature Caston and Pioneer in an eight-team softball and baseball grouping with DeMotte Christian, North Newton, North White, South Newton, Tri-County and West Central.

Winamac is in Class 2A, Sectional 34 with Bremen, South Bend Career Academy, Jimtown, Knox and LaVille.

“For the first time in a long time, almost all the opponents in those sectionals are going to be the same across all the four-class sports,” IHSAA Commissioner Paul Neidig said in a YouTube video entitled “IHSAA Sectional Realignment Process” that was released in April.

“We’re really excited about that. The rivalries that will be able to be created as they play everybody in that sectional in all of the four-class sports we think is going to be really good for competition, good for sport and good for rivalries.”