MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Much like basketball five years ago and volleyball, football and cheer in the fall, a new four-class setup for WVSSAC baseball and softball playoffs will launch next month. The changes don’t stop there.
Sectional play in baseball has been eliminated, just as it was this past winter in boys and girls basketball playoffs. The new baseball format calls for four regions in each of the four classes. After the ballots from head coaches set the seeds in each region, teams will be split into two separate brackets.
The winners of each bracket, within the same region, will play a best-of-three series with the winner advancing to the state tournament at Charleston’s GoMart Ballpark. The top remaining seed in the regional finals will host the first and third games, if necessary, in the series.
2025 WVSSAC Baseball Regional formats
The WVSSAC State Baseball Tournament will remain a three-day event even with the addition of the fourth class. In previous years, two semifinals were played on the Thursday of tournament week, four semifinals followed on Friday and all three championships were played on Saturday.
This year, four semifinals in Class A and Class AA will be played on Thursday, June 5. Four semifinals in Class AAA and Class AAAA will follow on Friday, June 6. The four championship games will be played Saturday, June 7 starting at 10 a.m. The second session of the championship games will begin at 5:30 p.m.
Double-elimination regional play may begin on May 12 and regional final series may begin on May 26.
All four of the 2024 state champions will be moving up one class this spring. Two-time defending Class AAA champion Cabell Midland will compete in Class AAAA Region IV. Many of their traditional Mountain State Athletic Conference and regional rivals, like Hurricane and Spring Valley, will join the Knights in that group.
Region II will be comprised of the six Eastern Panhandle Athletic Conference schools. Region I and Region III will have a similar look to last season in Class AAA.
In the new Class AAA, two of the state’s top programs are drawn into the same region. Defending Class AA state champion Frankfort and nine-time state champion Bridgeport will compete in Region II. Independence and Herbert Hoover both qualified for last year’s state tournament. They will now compete together in Class AAA Region III. 2023 Class AA state champion Winfield will see many of their traditional Cardinal Conference rivals in Region IV.
Charleston Catholic has won two of the last three state championships in Class A (2022 and 2024). The Irish will now compete in Class AA Region IV alongside a Logan team that recently won Class AA crowns in 2021 and 2022.
2024 Class A runner-up Williamstown and Wheeling Central Catholic are top contenders for the Region I championship in Class AA.
In the new Class A, East Hardy is the lone state tournament qualifier from last spring that remains in the smallest classification. 2023 Class A state champion Wahama will compete in Region IV with ten other teams, making it the largest regional tournament in the state.
2025 WVSSAC Softball Regional formats
With the introduction of a fourth class to the WVSSAC State Softball Tournament, the double-elimination event at South Charleston’s Little Creek Park has been expanded from two days to four days. The entire Class A and Class AA tournaments will be contested on May 28-29 and the Class AAA and Class AAAA tournaments will follow on May 30-31.
Rounds leading up to the state tournament will still feature the previous sectional and regional formats. Sectional champions will advance to best-of-three regional series to determine state qualifiers.
Just like in baseball, all three 2024 state champions will be moving up by one class. After winning their first Class AAA title, University will compete with five other squads, including 2023 state champion John Marshall, in Region I.
Class AAAA Region IV contains some of the state’s top programs in Hurricane (state champions from 2015-2019) and Cabell Midland (2021 state champion and 2023 state runner-up).
In the new Class AAA, rivals Herbert Hoover (state champions from 2017-2019 & 2021-2022) and Winfield (back-to-back state champions) will make the move up from Class AA. Recent state tournament participant Lincoln County remains in Class AAA.
Class AA is the new home of 2024 Class A state champion St. Marys. The Blue Devils will compete in the same region as traditional favorite Wheeling Central Catholic.
Wahama (2021-2023 state champion) remains one of the favorites in the new Class A.