Story by Rusty McCracken
BROCKWAY – The District 9 Committee has released the 2023 brackets for next week’s softball championship, and Curwensville, DuBois Central Catholic and St. Marys all hold top seeds.
Curwensville, who has faced just one District 9 opponent on the year in Brockway (a 21-0 win), emerged from the ICC-North League with a 6-7 record and a 12-7 record overall. The top spot has also earned the Golden Tide a bye in the first-round field of seven teams. The rest of the Class AA bracket will get started on Monday.
Opening games in the Class AA hunt will find second seeded Moniteau (9-9) hosting seventh seeded Brookville (8-10) while number three Cranberry (10-7) will host sixth seeded Keystone (9-7), and Karns City (7-7), the fifth seed, will travel to fourth seeded Johnsonburg (10-8). Curwensville will await the winner of the Karns City/Johnsonburg game for a Wednesday contest at a site and time to be determined later.
The first and second seeds in the Class A playoff will sit idle on Monday. Top-seeded DuBois Central Catholic will wait until Wednesday to face the winner of (#5) Forrest Area and (#4) Union/AC Valley. Otto-Eldred with the number two seed will watch for the winner of (#6) Redbank Valley and (#3) Elk County Catholic.
In Class AAAA competition Clearfield will look to defend their crown against St. Marys in a championship game at Heindl Field in Dubois on May 29. The winner will move on to play the winner of a District 6/8 sub-regional. If the District 6 representative should win that game, a District 9 site would be chosen for continued play.
While all District 9 softball championships are scheduled to be played at Heindl Field on May 29, no times have been set for any classes. Consolation games for Class A and AA may be necessary and will be held on May 30. These consolation contests are only necessary if the two teams had not played each other in previous quarterfinal games. In the case of previous playoff meetings, the winner of the earlier game would move to the PIAA Championships.
Other D9 softball representatives Punxsutawney (Class AAA) and DuBois (Class AAAAA) will play in sub-regional games. DuBois will welcome Brashear out of District 8 to Heindl Field on Monday for a 4:00 contest. Punxsutawney will await a competitor out of District 5 with no opponent, time, or date set as of yet.
Local baseball interest finds Clearfield in a D9 Class AAAA Championship against St. Marys at Showers Field in DuBois on Monday, May 22 at 4:00 p.m. Carrick out of District 8 is waiting in the wings for the D9 winner. That game will be played on May 30 (time and place TBA).
Meanwhile, an opponent for D8/D9 baseball representative will be waiting as well. The District 6 championship is to be decided on May 23 in Central Cambria at 4 p.m. Either Juniata or Bellefonte will take the field on June 1 at a District 6 location.
In Class A, top seeded DuBois Central Catholic will open its state championship defense on May 25. After a first-round bye, the Cardinals will take on the winner of an AC Valley/Union vs Cameron County matchup. That game will take place at a neutral site to be designated later.
Showers Field in DuBois is the site for the Class A and AA Championships on May 29 with the times TBA.                                                                                                               Â
