The 9th District has owned the 3rd Region tournament for at least the last 20 years, and their representative teams bookend the first round of play. From Apollo versus Trinity to Daviess County vs. Grayson County, day one is full of teams that took very different paths to earn their spots at region.
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The tournament, hosted by Hancock County at Vastwood Park, kicks off with a pair of squads looking to make history. While defending champion Apollo is looking for their first back-to-back titles, Trinity will try to earn their first region tournament win since 2000.
Both teams closed out their regular seasons strong before earning their spots in the region tournament, with the E-Gals (15-13) finishing as 9th District runner-up and the Lady Raiders (15-14) earning their first ever 12th District title.
Apollo head coach Stephen Julian said his team will try to bounce back from the district championship loss by working on basic fundamentals, reviewing situations and using focused hitting. While getting back to state is the ultimate goal, he said they can’t look past any opponent.
“To win back-to-back at region would be really exciting and a program first,” he said. “But you can celebrate that after the fact. We have to take it one game at a time and hope the ball bounces our way.”
For Trinity, head coach Jack Melton said winning 15 of the final 19 games has team spirits high.
“Confidence is very high right now,” he said. “We feel like we can play with any team in the region if we play like we did as a team in district. We need to stay focused by just doing the same thing we have been doing the last 19 games — practicing hard, focusing on teamwork and just having fun. No one is ready for this ride to be over.”
The second and third games will both feature teams making at least their fourth consecutive appearance in the region tournament. Meade County (27-10) takes on Muhlenberg County (13-22) in the early afternoon game, followed by Ohio County (15-12) versus Hancock County (28-9).
Meade County put together several win streaks this season before winning the 11th District for the second year in a row. Meanwhile, Muhlenberg County struggled to string together wins and lost their last five games, including the 10th District championship.
Ohio County was a bit up and down for much of the season but they did close well en route to a 10th District title. Aside from a short stretch in early May, Hancock County had an impressive year with several key region wins. They won seven in a row before falling short in the 11th District championship.
Round one will end with a meeting between Daviess County (21-12) and Grayson County (7-25), both of which are making the return a return to the region tournament after missing out last year.
The Lady Panthers offense has been hot and they rode their bats to a 9th District title — their fourth in five years. Head coach John Biggs said it’s important to keep doing the little things right in order to keep the postseason alive against an improved Lady Cougars.
“For us it’s important to stay in our routines,” he said. “Grayson is a very different team now than the team we faced in the regular season. They were trying to work through some things. It’s a much more positive atmosphere in their program now and they seem to be playing with some confidence.”
After finding success in late March, Grayson County went through a long period of lopsided losses when the offense struggled to score. They picked up some momentum to close out the year and finished as 12th District runner-up.
The second round of the tournament is scheduled for Tuesday, with the championship set for Wednesday.
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