The District 5-AAA tournament kicks off the Tennessee high school baseball postseason with two games tonight, but regular-season winner Bradley Central and runner-up Soddy-Daisy won't play until Friday.
"I think it's a catch-22. We've always tried to take a few days off before the district tournament to regroup, work on fundamentals and go back and look at things we need to work on," Soddy-Daisy coach Jared Hensley said. "Yet I go outside today and it's sunny. I'm sure my guys would rather be playing than practicing."
His Trojans' opponent for the best-two-of-three semifinals will be Ooltewah. Bradley, meanwhile, is awaiting a mystery team to emerge from the first two days, which are single-elimination play.
"We've never been in this position," said Bradley coach Travis Adams, whose team already has clinched a region berth after skipping through its district season undefeated. "It's a waiting game to see who gets to us."
He and most of his team likely will be at Cleveland tonight when East Hamilton plays McMinn County and Cleveland takes on Walker Valley. Those winners will meet Thursday with that victor sliding into the semis against the Bears. It's probable that the Bears will see a No. 3 or No. 4 pitcher Friday.
"Offensively that might help a little, but at the same time you have to handle their lineup," Adams said. "You may not see their ace - their shutdown guy - but you might wind up hitting the ball right at them and getting nothing to show for it. You can't just roll out there expecting runs. It's a district opponent, and in all of our (two-game) series during the season at least one of the games was tight."
Ooltewah and Soddy-Daisy are probably the two teams that know each other best.
"They're worked extremely hard and won a lot down the backstretch. It's never easy for us with those guys," Hensley said of the Owls.
Districts 6-AA and 7-AA will start Thursday with single-elimination games - 6-AA at Hixson and 7-AA at the higher-seeded team's field. Districts 6-A at Lookout Valley, 5-A at higher seeds and 3-A at Meigs County begin Friday. McMinn Central opens 5-AA play at home vs. Sweetwater in a play-in game. The winner will join Polk County, Sequoyah and Loudon in a double-elimination event that starts Saturday at Loudon.
In Division II, McCallie already has clinched a first-round bye and could clinch the top seed by winning just one of three games at Pope John Paul II this weekend. Baylor will be in Division II-AA's first round, but a weekend series at Ensworth will determine whether the Red Raiders will be at home or on the road to start the postseason.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com.