Postseason is officially upon us for diamond sports across Lafayette Parish and its surrounding areas, with the LHSAA State Baseball and Softball Tournaments underway.
The 337-area baseball was well-represented with 28 teams securing a spot across the 10 divisions, and one of them earning the No. 1 overall seed in their division, Opelousas Catholic. Last week, 21 of those teams competed in the first round in a best-of-three game series while the other seven waited in the wings with a bye week.
Non-Select and Select Division IV baseball play doesn’t start till this week, with teams only playing single-game matchups instead of three games.
Over in softball, 28 area teams also represented the talent on the diamond this year. In the Non-Select Division III bracket, Kaplan earned the highest seed of any area teams at No. 2. Notre Dame earned the No. 3 seed in the Select Division III bracket, while in the Non-Select bracket North Vermilion earned the No. 4 seed. Also receiving byes in the first round was St. Thomas More in the Select Division I bracket.
Now, only 17 area softball teams and 24 area baseball teams remain on the journey to Sulpur. Here’s a roundup of the baseball and softball matchups happening across Louisiana in the bi-district and second round of the LHSAA playoffs.
No. 13 The Willow School at No. 4 Acadiana Renaissance Charter
No. 1 Opelousas Catholic will play the winner of No. 17 Hanson Memorial at No. 16 Central Catholic
No. 20 Westminster Christian-Opelousas at No. 13 Ascension Episcopal
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No. 9 Acadiana Renaissance Charter at No. 8 Haynes Academy
Shannon Belt covers high school sports and the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow her high school and Cajuns coverage on Twitter: @ShannonBelt3. Got questions regarding HS/UL athletics? Send them to Shannon Belt at sbelt@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Here are the Lafayette-area diamond sports teams advancing in LHSAA playoffs