Pairings set for Larkin Slugfest.(Sports Extra) - Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL)

Byline: John Radtke Daily Herald Sports Writer

The pairings for the 12th annual Subway Larkin Slugfest are set.

Downstate Morton, 12-1 through Tuesday, is the top seed, followed by Palatine, Plainfield Central and host Larkin.

The 5-8 seeds are Oak Lawn, Maine South, Kankakee and Belvidere.

The three-game tournament will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday, April 30 at the Elgin Sports complex. The championship round is scheduled for 2 p.m.

Larkin is the defending champion of the tournament, having beaten Rochelle in last year's title game. The Royals have won four of the 11 previous Slugfest titles.

The 14-inning pitching rule will apply this year as well, meaning no pitcher can throw more than 14 innings in the tournament.

First-round games will pit Morton against Belvidere, Palatine vs. Kankakee, Plainfield Central against Maine South and Larkin vs. Oak Lawn.

Plainfield Central is the new home of left-handed pitcher Stephanie Kelly, who transferred from Neuqua Valley.

Not this year: Unless a late-season scheduling miracle occurs, the longtime softball rivalry between St. Edward and Burlington Central won't happen this year.

The last three years, the Green Wave and Rockets have played in the opening round of the Chicagoland Challenge, which is hosted by St. Edward.

But tournament director Brian Wiseman chose to put St. Edward and Burlington opposite different opponents this year, citing the strength of the two teams.

The move disappointed BC coach Scot Sutherland.

'We've always had a verbal agreement since this tournament started that we'd play each other,' Sutherland said. 'When I opened up the packet and saw the pairings I was disappointed. It would have been nice to keep the rivalry going.'

Central and St. Edward could have met in the semifinals but Wiseman paired the Rockets against Farmington, which came into the tournament 12-1 and handed BC its first loss of the season, 1-0, in the opening round. The Farmers then beat St. Edward by the same score in the semifinals before losing to Stanford Olympia in the championship game 9-2.

The Green Wave and Rockets are in separate sectional complexes in the postseason and would only meet if they each made it Downstate, where they would each have to win a game to meet in the semifinals.

Wiseman said he drew up the pairings at the start of the season and didn't feel it fair to change them once they were sent out.

More Challenge: Next year's Chicagoland Challenge could have quite a new flavor to it.

Originally started as a showcase for Class A teams, that will change next year as St. Edward figures on being a Class AA school if the IHSA's new multiplier system for private schools does in fact go into place this fall.

Wiseman said he hopes to have Olympia and Farmington back and then mix the tournament with other Class AA teams.

Burlington Central will also be Class AA next year, but Sutherland said he isn't sure about returning to the tournament.

'We want to play Class AA competition if that's what we're facing in the postseason,' he said.

There's also a chance Burlington could play in the 2006 Class AA Stone City Jamboree just prior to the beginning of the postseason. Sutherland is a summer coach in the Stone City Sharks organization, which hosts the Jamboree.

Seeding time: Class A seeding meetings are set for Monday night, with Burlington Central and Hampshire the local teams assigned to the Byron complex, and St. Edward headed to the Plano sectional field.

Elgin Academy, which reinstated softball this year, is not playing in the IHSA state tournament series.

Both Burlington and St. Edward may have lost out on their chances to be a No. 1 seed with setbacks this week. Marengo, which beat Burlington 5-4 Tuesday, is in the Byron complex while Montini, which handed St. Edward a 3-2 loss Wednesday, is in the field at Plano.