BASEBALL DISTRICTS: How each bracket looks ahead of tournament play

It’s time to crown some baseball district champions.

The regular season comes to a close this week, setting the table for the district tournaments to begin this weekend. The district championship games take place later next week with the state tournaments beginning May 16.

Here’s a rundown of each district bracket.

5A

The top two teams automatically qualify for state and play each other in a best-of-three series to crown a district champion.

With Middleton, Eagle and Owyhee all 11-1 in Southern Idaho Conference play, and all having wins over each other, tiebreakers were needed to separate the three. Middleton won the tiebreaker and is the top seed. Since Eagle defeated Owyhee, the Mustangs earned the No. 2 seed, sending Owyhee to bracket play as the No. 3 seed.

The Vikings will host game one and a potential game three in the championship series against Eagle. Game one is Tuesday, May 7 with games two and three the following days. Middleton defeated Eagle 1-0 in the regular season.

Teams three through seven in the regular season standings are placed in the bracket and await winners from the three play-in games Thursday. The play-in games are No. 8 Timberline vs. No. 13 Kuna, No. 9 Centennial vs. No. 12 Meridian and No. 10 Nampa vs. No. 11 Capital.

Owyhee will play the winner of the lowest remaining seed. No. 4 Rocky Mountain will play the next lowest, then No. 5 Mountain View gets the highest remaining seed. No. 6 Borah and No. 7 Boise are paired against each other in the bracket.

The quarterfinal games take place Saturday. The two teams that reach the third-place game in the district automatically qualify for state. On the loser’s side of the bracket, the two remaining teams will advance to state play-in games.

4A

The bottom three seeds have yet to be finalized, but the top three are set. Skyview finished the season undefeated (12-0) in conference play and 20-2 overall. Four games behind them, Bishop Kelly is the No. 2 seed. Both will play their first tournament games Monday.

Their opponents will be decided over the weekend. Ridgevue finished third in the conference and could face either Columbia, Vallivue or Caldwell on Saturday. Columbia and Vallivue play each other on Thursday, both sitting at 4-7 in conference play, while Caldwell is 4-8.

Skyview will play the lowest-seeded winner from Saturday’s games, Bishop Kelly will play the higher seed.

The championship game is scheduled for Thursday, May 9. The loser of the championship game will play Saturday, May 11 against the winner of the loser’s bracket for a state tournament berth.

3A

Homedale cruised through their Snake River Valley Conference slate, winning all but two games by at least eight runs. They’ll face the winner between No. 4 Weiser and No. 5 Parma on Monday in the semifinals. Fruitland, the No. 2 seed, will play either No. 3 Payette or No. 6 McCall-Donnelly.

Both district finalists will receive a bid to the state tournament. The championship game is set for Wednesday, May 8. Whoever emerges from the other side of the bracket will also earn a state tournament berth.

2A

Nampa Christian finished first in the Western Idaho Conference at 20-1 overall and 10-0 in league play. In the semifinals of the district tournament on Saturday, they’ll face either No. 4 New Plymouth or No. 5 Melba. Cole Valley, the No. 2 seed, gets either No. 3 Marsing or No. 6 North Star Charter in the other semifinal matchup.

The district championship is Thursday, May 9. The winner earns a spot in the state tournament, while the loser will play the winner from the other side of the bracket for the district’s other state tournament spot.