Washington, Fairfield, Mt. Pleasant draw same baseball substate

The Union area big schools may get to know each other a little better when the Class 3A baseball postseason kicks off next month. Washington, Fairfield and Mt. Pleasant were all placed in the same substate when the Iowa High School Athletic Association released its groupings this week.

All three area big schools were placed in Class 3A Substate 4, along with two other Southeast Conference foes. No. 10 Fort Madison and Keokuk will join the party, meaning all five of the SEC’s Class 3A teams will have the same road to the state tournament.

Fort Madison isn’t the only ranked team in the group. No. 3 Davenport Assumption was the highest ranked team placed in Substate 4, and No. 8 Central Dewitt makes it three ranked teams in one substate.

That leaves just one other spot in the eight-team bracket. Clear Creek-Amana, a team that defeated Mt. Pleasant 11-0 in the season opener, will join the rest to fill out the bracket.

The tournament bracket itself hasn’t been released, but one could figure the third-ranked Assumption Knights have the fast track toward the No. 1 seed. If the seedings went by current rankings, Central Dewitt would be the No. 2 seed in the Substate and Fort Madison would be No. 3.

That leaves Washington (10-7), Clear Creek-Amana (11-10), Fairfield (7-12), Mt. Pleasant (5-15) and Keokuk (2-18) to fill out the rest of the bracket. That would likely pit Washington and CCA in a first-round matchup no matter which team earns the better seed, and it would also likely send Fairfield and Mt. Pleasant on road trips when they play their first game.

Whoever makes it out of Substate 4 will be one of 8 teams at the Class 3A state tournament in Iowa City, which runs from July 28-31.