By By KEVIN TRAVIS
Sports Editor
Seven area baseball teams earned spots for the 2010 N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1-A state playoffs. First-round games begin Friday.
Two area teams will be at home for first-round action. The Bear Grass Bears and Jamesville Bullets will get to play on familiar soil.
Northside, Williamston, Plymouth, Mattamuskeet and Creswell will all be on the road.
The Bears (16-3), the Tideland Conference champions, play host to North Edgecombe (6-8), the fourth seed out of the Tar Roanoke Conference. The winner faces either Manteo (14-8), the No. 2 seed in the Four Rivers Conference and the fourth-ranked team in the Impact Baseball poll, or Jones (11-10), the No. 3 seed in the Coastal Plains Conference.
The Bullets (14-5), the Tideland’s No. 2 seed, play host to the Plymouth Vikings (15-7), the No. 4 seed in the Four Rivers. The survivor faces either Perquimans (16-5), the Four Rivers champions and the second-ranked team in the Impact Baseball poll, or Northampton-East (9-6), the third seed in the Tar Roanoke Conference.
Williamston (17-7), ranked sixth in the Impact Baseball poll and the third seed out of the Four Rivers, travels to East Carteret (10-11), the second seed in the Coastal Plains. Creswell (4-6), the Tideland’s fourth seed, plays at Gates County (17-4), the Tar Roanoke champions. The Williamston-East Carteret winner squares off with the Creswell-Gates County winner in the second round.
Mattamuskeet (6-6), the Tideland’s No. 3 seed, visits Kipp Pride (12-4), the second seed in the Tar Roanoke Conference. The winner takes on the survivor between Dixon (18-4), the Coastal Plains champions and the third-ranked team in the Impact Baseball poll, and Camden (10-11), the fifth seed from the Four Rivers, in the next round.
The Northside Panthers (8-14), a wild-card entry out of the Four Rivers, travel to Rosewood (14-6). The Eagles are the Carolina Conference champions. The winner takes on the survivor between Midway (16-5), the No. 2 seed in the Tri-County Conference and ranked 10th in the Impact Baseball poll, and Red Springs (6-16), the third seed in the Three Rivers Conference, in second-round action on Tuesday.
The third round, called the district round, will be played Friday, May 21. Sectional action begins on Tuesday, May 25.
The Eastern finals will be played May 27-29. The state championships will be held June 4-5.
BASEBALL
PLAYOFFS
FIRST ROUND
Class 1-A
Friday’s Games
Northside at Rosewood
North Edgecombe at Bear Grass
Creswell at Gates County
Williamston at East Carteret
Plymouth at Jamesville
Mattamuskeet at Kipp Pride