Dialog reporter
St. Mark’s earned the top seed in the state baseball postseason bracket and will look to regain its Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association championship over the next week and a half. The Spartans, who sport a 15-3 record, open play Saturday at home vs. No. 16 Milford at 2 p.m.
The Spartans are one of three Catholic schools in the tournament. On the other side of the bracket, Salesianum earned the second seed after a 15-3 season. The Sals host No. 15 Sussex Central Saturday, also at 2 p.m. Sallies and the Golden Knights went down the wire when they met on April 11 downstate; Salesianum escaped with a 5-4 win after scoring two runs in the top of the seventh inning.
Archmere also found a place in the postseason. The Auks went 14-4, good enough to win the Diamond State Athletic Conference and garner a sixth seed. They will meet No. 11 Tower Hill this Saturday at 11 a.m. at home. Archmere met the Hillers on May 14 and won, 7-0.
Other first-round matchups, all of which will be played Saturday, are as follows: No. 9 St. Georges at No. 8 Appoquinimink at 11 a.m.; No. 13 Mount Pleasant at No. 4 Hodgson, 11 a.m.; No. 12 Delaware Military Academy at No. 5 Dover, 3 p.m.; No. 10 Cape Henlopen at No. 7 Sussex Tech, 11 a.m.; and No. 14 Smyrna at No. 3 Caravel, 1 p.m.
Padua is the only Catholic school to receive an invitation to the DIAA girls’ tournament. The Pandas, who finished the season 12-6, received the 10th seed and open play Saturday at 11 a.m. at No. 7 Concord. The teams met April 27, with the Raiders claiming a 3-0 win.
The rest of the softball tournament looks like this, with all first-round games scheduled for Saturday: No. 1 Delmar hosts No. 16 Lake Forest, 11 a.m.; No. 15 Smyrna at No. 2 Laurel, 1 p.m.; No. 14 Cape Henlopen at No. 3 Caravel, 1 p.m.; No. 13 Indian River at No. 4 Polytech, 11 a.m.; No. 12 St. Georges at No. 5 Appoquinimink, 11 a.m.; No. 11 Woodbridge at No. 6 Caesar Rodney, noon; and No. 9 Sussex Tech vs. No. 8 Delaware Military Academy at Midway Softball Complex, 1 p.m.
Tickets to the first and second rounds are $5, with the second round for both baseball and softball scheduled for Tuesday. The semifinals for both, which will be held May 28, cost $6, and the championship, scheduled for May 30 for both sports, is $8. The sites and times of future games will be announced.
Tickets to both the baseball and softball championships are available at diaa.ticketleap.com. Both will be streamed live at www.nfhsnetwork.com/associations/diaa for a fee.
