The good news for Decatur, Paradise and Bridgeport high schools is that they will be representing Wise County in the state playoffs this year. The not so good news is that all three have been waiting out the swine flu scare before returning to the diamond and have not played a game in two weeks since wrapping up district play.
The University Interscholastic League, which halted all play until May 11, has cleared the way for all schools to play warm-up games before the first round of the playoffs begins Monday, May 18.
Decatur, the only district champion this year, has a first-round bye in the Class 3A playoffs and will play the winner of the Gatesville/Burnet series May 18-19. However, the Eagles will get in some work as they faced Celina on Friday and will host Ponder Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. and Paris at 7 p.m. next Friday.
Bridgeport, which finished third in District 5-3A but also has a bye since there is not a District 6, will play Farmersville at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Aubrey and Wichita Falls High School at 5 p.m. Friday in Graham.
The Bulls will open their playoff run on Monday, May 18, in an area championship game against Glen Rose at 7:30 p.m. at Boswell. The winner of the game will play the winner of the Decatur vs. Gatesville/Burnet game in the regional quarterfinals May 21-22.
Paradise got back into the state playoffs after a one-year break as it finished third behind Brock and Peaster. The Panthers will also get in some field time as they hosted Windthorst on Friday and will travel to Brock for an 8 p.m. ball game Tuesday.
Paradise will advance to the bi-district round of the Class 2A playoffs in a best-of-three series against state-ranked Pilot Point at Lake Dallas. Game one is 7:30 p.m. Friday night, while game two is set for 2 p.m. Saturday. Game three, if needed, will immediately follow.
Below are the new playoff schedules for softball and the format to be used.
Bi-district: May 16 (1 game or 2 out of 3)
Area: May 19 (1 game only) Regional quarterfinal: May 23 (1 game or 2 out of 3) Regional semifinal: May 30 (1 game or 2 out of 3) Regional final: June 6 (1 game or 2 out of 3) State tournament: June 10-13
