Lumberton, St. Pauls softball, Purnell Swett baseball earn state playoff bids

CHAPEL HILL — Two Robeson County high school softball teams and one baseball team earned state playoff bids when the North Carolina High School Athletic Association released brackets on Monday.

Lumberton softball and Purnell Swett baseball will play in the 4A state tournament and St. Pauls softball is in the 2A field, with first-round games set for Tuesday.

Lumberton softball earned a No. 7 seed in the 4A East Region and will host No. 26 Sanderson at 7 p.m. The Pirates (22-4) won the United-8 Conference regular-season championship and reached the conference tournament final.

Sanderson (8-10-1) earned an at-large bid after finishing third in the CAP-6 Conference.

The winner between Lumberton and Sanderson will face the winner of No. 10 Cleveland and No. 23 Jordan in the second round on Friday. The Pirates will be at home through at least the second round should they advance.

St. Pauls softball is a No. 21 seed in the 2A East Region and will travel to play No. 12 Heide Trask in the opening round at 7 p.m. The Bulldogs (16-6) finished second in the Southeastern Athletic Conference to earn an automatic bid, the program’s first state playoff appearance since 2012.

Heide Trask (15-3) also earned an automatic bid as runners-up in the Waccamaw Conference.

The St. Pauls-Heide Trask victor will advance to face either No. 5 Washington or No. 28 West Bladen in the second round.

Purnell Swett baseball is a No. 9 seed in the 4A East Region and will welcome No. 24 Richmond to Pembroke at 7 p.m. The Rams (17-8) is the United-8’s top 4A playoff seed as the highest-finishing 4A school in the conference.

Richmond (14-9) finished second in the Sandhills Athletic Conference, earning an automatic playoff bid. The Raiders defeated Purnell Swett 3-2 in a nonconference contest on March 20.

The Purnell Swett-Richmond winner will face either No. 8 Holly Springs or No. 25 Apex Friendship in Friday’s second round.

The Fairmont and Lumberton baseball teams and Purnell Swett softball were each among the first few teams out of the playoffs in their respective classifications. St. Pauls baseball, Fairmont softball and Red Springs baseball and softball also did not qualify.