Hannah Trainer and Erica Johnson (kneeling) cover during Ravenwood's district tournament win Tuesday over Centennial, 7-2. (Softball photo by Jodi Rall)

By CAROL STUART
Brentwood Home Page
Ravenwood High School will be juggling a lot of balls in the air the next two days as the District 11-AAA softball tournament continues through Friday and the boys soccer final four runs Wednesday-Thursday.

In soccer, top-seeded Brentwood and No. 2 seed Ravenwood both received byes into the district semifinals. The Bruins will play at 5 p.m. Wednesday against Centennial, and the host Raptors will meet Franklin at 7 p.m., with winners earning a spot in Thursday's championship and next week's regional.

In softball, two losers brackets games will be played at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Wednesday. The top-seeded Lady Raptors and the Lady Bruins will then square off in a winners bracket game at 7 p.m. Thursday, with a finals berth and regional appearance on the line.

Raptors player Andrew Mason (13) tries to keep the ball away from Patrick Brooks (10) in the Bruins' 5-0 regular-season victory last week. (Soccer photos by Peg Fredi)

Ravenwood's Eric Wurster (3) and Morgan Mcdowell (18) go for a header against Brentwood's Austin Stuck (7).

Morgan McDowell of RHS and Matt England of BHS do battle.

"It's exciting. We have a lot going on school-wise. As a teacher, we have all this testing going on. And then you never know what to expect in the spring because some sports host it by who wins the regular season, some go on a rotation," Raptors athletic director Patrick Whitlock said.

"So it's just fallen this year that we get to host soccer and softball, and we feel very fortunate to be able to showcase our programs and our school yet again."

The parking lots and traffic could be somewhat of a problem, depending on what time you arrive, Whitlock said. "Hosting two events at one time, the upper lot will fill up pretty quickly," he noted.

Traffic also will be cut off at Raintree in order to help take up the gate at soccer. New RHS boys soccer coach Ken White wanted to use the lower soccer field instead of the football stadium.

"Coach White likes the dimensions of the lower soccer field. It's a little wider surprisingly because it doesn't have a track around it. I guess that benefits our style of play so he wanted to host down there," Whitlock said.

"It would be easier to take a gate at football, but you're not going to need the kind of seating for the soccer tournament . Since he wants to do it down there, we're all for it."

Admission is $5 to each of the TSSAA district events.

Concessions will be available near the softball field, and the soccer fans will be allowed to walk over to purchase food and drink. That's the only real duty the school is asking parent volunteers to work: "Other than that, we want them to just come out and enjoy the games," the AD said.

But otherwise, for the school, running two tournament simultaneously is "and all-hands-on-deck endeavor," Whitlock said.

"You would think it just involves certain people in athletics, but it ties up all of our administrators, it ties up several teachers because we depend on them to help run our gates and things like that," he said. "It's really a collective effort and we're just very fortunate that have so many good staff members that are willing to help out.

"Ideally, you try and take as much off the coaches as you can because you want them to focus on winning. But unfortunately (softball coach) Kari (Akin) and Ken have to shoulder the burden and the load of filing out the brackets and making sure their facilities are ready."

The Lady Raptors softball team, who made their first state tournament appearance last season, went 9-1 in district play to earn the right to host the 11-AAA tourney. Soccer is on a rotation basis, but the Raptors are also contenders after finishing second behind Brentwood in the regular season.

"We expect them to have a chance to move well beyond district into region and sectional play and hopefully state," Whitlock said of the two RHS teams. "When you get to the postseason, anything can happen so we hope for the best."

Ravenwood also has its spring football game scheduled for Friday night around the same time as the softball championship.

District 11-AAA boys soccer tournament 

Monday, May 9: (At home sites): Centennial 1, Independence 0; Franklin 4, Hillsboro 1

Wednesday, May 11 (At Ravenwood): Brentwood vs. Centennial, 5 p.m.; Ravenwood vs. Franklin, 7 p.m.

Thursday, May 12: (At Ravenwood) Championship game,  7 p.m.

District 11-AAA girls softball tournament
(All games at Ravenwood)

Monday, May 9: Centennial 7, Franklin 5; Brentwood 13 Hillsboro 3

Tuesday, May 10: Winners bracket, Brentwood 8, Independence 4; Ravenwood 7, Centennial 2

Wednesday, May 11: Losers bracket, Hillsboro vs. Centennial, 5 p.m.; Franklin vs. Independence, 7 p.m. 

Thursday, May 12:  Winners bracket, Ravenwood vs. Brentwood, 5 p.m.; Losers bracket: Game 8, Hillsboro-Centennial winner vs. Franklin-Independence winner, 7 p.m. 

Friday, May 13: Game 9, Game 8 winner vs. Ravenwood-Brentwood loser, losers bracket final, 5 p.m.; Game 10, Ravenwood-Brentwood winner vs. Game 9 winner, 7 p.m., championship; Game 11, 2nd championship game, if necessary, immediately following Game 10