Fort Recovery draws Fairview in first round

The Midwest Athletic Conference can be brutal to teams that play in weaker conferences.

The Indians learned over the weekend that they won’t have to face another MAC team until the district opener at the earliest.

The Fort Recovery High School softball team was awarded the No. 8 seed in the Division III Northwest 1 divisional tournament and will face off against the fifth-seeded Fairview Apaches in the first round of the sectional tournament.

The game will be played at Fairview on May 7 at 5 p.m.

Fairview (8-7) is the defending district champion, but will have a tougher path to Bath High School for the championship game as the No. 5 seed.

The Indians have already taken a step forward this season with three wins in MAC play and are one win away from their season total a year ago. A victory in the opener would set up a date with the third-seeded Wayne Trace Raiders. The sectional championship game against the Raiders (11-2) would take place on May 10 at 5 p.m.

The district opener at Bath is the earliest the Indians could run into a MAC team with No. 4 seed Coldwater coming from the bottom half of the bracket. The Cavaliers (10-8) will have to first beat ninth-seeded Allen East (5-11) before drawing the Paulding Panthers (11-3) who have earned the No. 2 seed in the tournament. Fort Recovery previously fell to Coldwater 6-2 back on April 16.

The district opener will be held at Bath on May 14 with an estimated start time of 6 p.m. after the first district game.

Top-seeded Parkway (15-3) is the most likely opponent for the championship game, as the highest seeded team they can face is No. 6 Van Buren (5-5) in the district opener. The Indians previously lost to the Panthers on April 6, 11-5.