By By KEVIN TRAVIS
Sports Editor
Eight area teams begin their quest for a state championship when the N.C. High School Athletic Association baseball playoffs begin today.
The Southside Seahawks and Williamston Tigers will get the playoffs started tonight, while Washington, Jamesville, Plymouth, Roanoke, Creswell and Bear Grass are slated to begin playoff action Friday.
3A Playoffs
The Washington Pam Pack earned its first playoff berth since 1998. Coach Darin Vaughan’s club (11-10), the fourth seed out of the Coastal Conference, will take on the Hertford County Bears (14-8), the top seed in the Northeastern Coastal Conference.
The winner will face the survivor between Charles B. Aycock (18-6), the second seed in the Eastern Carolina Conference, and Wilson Fike (12-8), the third seed out of the NEW 6 Conference, in Tuesday’s second round.
1A Playoffs
Coach Red Lewis and his Southside Seahawks (13-8), the Atlantic Conference champions, will play host to Princeton (9-14) tonight. The Bulldogs, a team out of the Carolina Conference, are a wild-card entry.
The Seahawks will be at home throughout the playoffs if they keep winning. Tonight’s winner will face the survivor between the Creswell Tigers (Tideland No. 2 seed) and North Edgecombe Warriors (Tar Roanoke No. 3 seed) on Tuesday.
Coach Hank Tice’s Williamston Tigers (14-9), the No. 2 seed from the Atlantic Conference, take on the East Bladen Eagles (12-7), the second seed from the Southeastern Conference. The winner meets either the Jamesville Bullets (Tideland No. 1 seed) or the Manteo Redskins (11-6, Albemarle No. 3 seed) in the second round.
A pair of area teams collide in the first round when the Roanoke Redskins (6-14) visit the Plymouth Vikings (10-10). Roanoke is the Atlantic Conference’s third seed, while the Vikings are the No. 2 seed out of the Albemarle Conference. The winner takes on the survivor between Louisburg (16-3), the Tar Roanoke’s top seed, and Cape Hatteras, the Tideland’s fourth seed.
Bear Grass will play at Gates County in first-round action. The Bears are the third seed in the Tideland Conference, while the Red Barons (13-5) are the second seed out of the Tar Roanoke Conference. The winner meets either Perquimans (13-6), the Albemarle Conference champions, or Northampton-East (7-10), the fourth seed from the Tar Roanoke Conference.