Almost there.
This week will mark the end of the regular season for Polk County’s baseball and softball squads. The Wolverine girls soccer team won’t wrap up their regualr season until next week.
Polk County teams will advance to playoff competition based on their RPI rating. As a reminder:
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- In most team sports, 48 schools will qualify for the playoffs. Qualification will be determined solely by the MaxPreps RPI rating used by the NCHSAA. Note that this is not the rating on MaxPreps’ website, but the rankings on nchsaa.org. There is a diference, and you cannot use the numbers on maxpreps.com to get accurate ratings.
- Once the 48 qualifiers are known, they’ll be divided into 24 schools each in the East and West brackets. Where a school falls is not predetermined as in recent years – the 24 westernmost schools based on longitude will be in the West, with the rest in the East.
- Once the 24 schools are in each bracket, they’ll be ranked 1-24 and that will determine byes and pairings. The top eight schools in each bracket will receive a first-round bye.
Here is a look at where schools in those three sports currently sit heading into Monday. These are not projected pairings and can change daily as the postseason approaches.
BASEBALL
Polk County currently sits 20th overall in RPI and ninth in the 3A West ratings. That would give the Wolverines a first-round game against the 24th seed, currently Mount Airy.
Union Academy currently sits as the eighth seed, the last spot to earn a first-round bye. Polk County would love to swap places with Union Academy, as that would give the Wolverines the bye and a chance to host a second-round game with the ninth seed.
No matter the seeding, Polk County will enter the playoffs as the Western Highlands Conference champions, having clinched that title on Friday.
SOFTBALL
Polk County moved up one spot and sits 57th overall in the 3A ratings. That means the Wolverines need a lot of help this week in order to climb into the top 48.
At a minimum, Polk likely needs to win all four of its games this week. The Wolverines are slated to play Hendersonville on Tuesday and Thursday before closing their season Friday with a doubleheader at North Henderson.
Win those four and it will just depend on how the math works out. Any more losses will likely spoil what hopes do remain for the Wolverines.
GIRLS SOCCER
Following Friday’s big win over Asheville, Polk County now sits 6th overall in 3A RPI.
That places the Wolverines fourth in the 3A West bracket behind Hendersonville, Pine Lake Prep and West Davidson.
Polk County has home matches this week with Avery and Landrum. If the Wolverines can defeat the Vikings on Wednesday, that will keep them in first place in the Western Highlands heading into a May 4 showdown at Hendersonville.
With the fourth seed, Polk would have a first-round bye and, at present, would face the winner of Union Academy and Shelby in the second round.
