Featured Story

Playoff brackets unveiled for spring sports teams

The undefeated Southold baseball team — the only unbeaten team in Suffolk County — will open the Class C county championship at home Monday against No. 2 Pierson.

The 20-0 First Settlers will play again Tuesday in the second game of the best-of-three series. A decisive Game 3, if necessary, will be Thursday. The First Settlers were 4-0 against Pierson in the regular season.

Section XI unveiled playoff brackets on Friday for baseball, softball, boys lacrosse and girls lacrosse.

The Mattituck baseball team will also open as the No. 1 seed in Class B. The Tuckers, who were 14-5, will await the winner of Center Moriches and Babylon. The Tuckers will play Tuesday at home in the double-elimination bracket.

The Southold softball team, which recently clinched its first playoff berth since 1997, can already boast itself as Class C county championship without playing a game. The First Settlers were the only Class C qualifying team in the county. That means they play June 1 in a regional semifinals agains the Section VIII winner at Hofstra. The only two other Class C teams are Port Jefferson, which went 4-13, and Pierson/Bridgehampton, which went 5-12.

The Mattituck girls lacrosse team will open the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in Class D and will play the county finals against No. 2 Babylon on May 26 at St. Joseph’s College. This is the first year of a fourth classification in lacrosse.

The change in classification numbers wasn’t as kind to the Mattituck boys lacrosse team, which missed the playoffs this year with a 7-7 Division III record that saw the Tuckers finish 18th out of 26 in the power rankings. Last year, the Tuckers competed in a league with all similar-size schools.

The classification numbers for boys and girls lacrosse are different.

(Be sure to check back at Section XI as dates and times of games are subject to change).

Photo caption: Luke Hansen leads Southold into the playoffs. (Credit: Garret Meade)