DISTRICT 5 PLAYOFFS: Area teams looking to advance in first round

Of the three local teams playing in the District 5 Class A baseball and softball playoffs on Wednesday, two of them will face a very familiar opponent.

Southern Fulton – the No. 1 seed in baseball – will host Tussey Mountain (No. 8), which it beat twice, and Forbes Road (No. 6 in softball) will travel to play Hyndman – the No. 3 seed. The teams split the season series with one win each.

Baseball No. 3 seed McConnellsburg is the only team with an unfamiliar foe. The Spartans will host No. 6 North Star. All of those games start at 4:30.

The Indians (19-2) had a tough time with the Titans (9-9) in their first meeting, winning just 3-1. But SF came back to beat Tussey 10-3 the second time around. Trent Rider, who boasts a 1.18 earned run average with 80 strikeouts in 47 1/3 innings, is not expected to pitch for Southern Fulton.

The Spartans (16-4) go into Wednesday's matchup with a bit of a blind eye. The Cougars (12-7) and McConnellsburg have played no common opponents, but North Star did suffer a 10-1 loss to Meyersdale, which beat Southern Fulton, and the Spartans split the season series with the Indians.

On the softball side, Forbes Road will look to keep rolling after notching its first winning season in program history. But the biggest question for the Cardinals (11-9) is who gets the ball on the mound. Haley Lashinsky has fought with injuries all season, but early in the year when she was healthy and on the mound, Forbes Road beat Hyndman 4-3. But in their second meeting last week, Lashinsky didn't pitch, and Forbes Road suffered a 5-3 defeat.

Courtney Schoen and Tina Parsons have pitched well in Lashinsky's absence, though. Schoen has done the majority of the work and holds a 5-7 record, while Parson is 2-0 on the mound.