Bluefield is notorious for its postseason success across several sports.
Unfortunately for the Beavers baseball hasn’t been one of them. The program hasn’t won a sectional championship since 2006.
That may be changing.
The Beavers rode a 21-3 record to the No. 1 seed in the Class AA Region 3, Section 1 tournament, proving themselves to be amongst the best in the state. But the work doesn’t stop there.
“We start out 0-0,” Bluefield head coach Jimmy Redmond said. “We might’ve been 21-3 but that doesn’t make a postseason. We’re all on even ground. Westside and Wyoming East are playing good right now and PikeView is always scrappy. Nobody is going to lay down for us. As the top seed we’re probably going to get everyone’s best shot. We’ve had a pretty good regular season, but we’ve got to continue to work hard.”
Teams may not lie down for the Beavers but they didn’t do much to resist them throughout the regular season.
Bluefield went 6-0 against sectional opponents this season, winning five of those contests by at least 10 runs. The only close game was a 6-2 win over Westside on May 22.
Speaking of the Renegades, they enter the sectional tournament with an 11-13 record, but have had mixed results in games against sectional opponents. They beat PikeView three times but split with Wyoming East and were swept by Bluefield.
They’ve also struggled down the stretch, going 3-5 during the second half of May with losses by double digits to Shady, Independence, Bluefield and Man.
Wyoming East (14-11) appeared to be a team on the rise, ripping off a five-game winning streak with victories over Oak Hill and Princeton, but back-to-back blowout losses to James Monroe and Summers County have halted the momentum heading into Tuesday’s matchup with Westside.
Lastly, PikeView enters the sectional tournament at 5-18, but two of those five wins have come against Wyoming East. There’s a possibility both teams could meet in the loser’s bracket on Wednesday with the season on the line.
They could also meet in the winner’s bracket, but given Bluefield’s success this season it seems unlikely.
“We’re not really where we want to be, but we want to keep working,” Redmond said. “You don’t want to rest too much. The next couple of days we’ll need to be confident and not press. We’ve pressed a little bit in big moments and games and the sectional tournament is a big moment. But I think we’re learning. There are a lot of scrappy teams with good coaches so we can’t go in thinking we’ve already won it.”
Region 3, Section 1
All games start at 6 p.m. at the higher seed’s venue
Tuesday, June 1
Game 1: No. 4 PikeView at No. 1 Bluefield
Game 2: No. 3 Wyoming East at No. 2 Westside
Wednesday, June 2
Game 3: Game 1 winner (PikeView/Bluefield) vs. Game 2 winner (East/Westside)
Game 4: Game 1 (PikeView/Bluefield) vs. Game 2 loser (East/Westside)
Thursday, June 3
Game 5: Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 winner
Friday, June 4
Game 6: Game 3 winner vs. Game 5 winner
Saturday, June 5
Game 7: If necessary
