As this edition of The News-Reporter hit the streets, the Washington Wilkes Tigers were playing in the first round of the Region 8-AA tournament to determine seedings for entry into the state playoffs beginning next month.

Having secured the sub-region championship with two impressive wins last week, the Tigers moved past North Oconee to take the No. 1 spot and Oglethorpe County helped out by beating North Oconee in an upset.

As illustrated in the accompanying tournament brackets, the region playoffs began on Wednesday, April 25 at two locations. Half the teams began with action at North Oconee High School and the other half began play at Smith Field in Athens at 11 a.m. The Tigers opened at 2 p.m. against Rabun County, the No. 4 team from the north sub-region.

Tournament participants, in order of finish, from the south sub-region include Washington-Wilkes, North Oconee, Morgan County, and Oglethorpe County. From the north, participating teams are Fannin County, Dawson County, Banks County, and Rabun County.

Dwayne Sapp, former Tiger baseball coach and now head coach at North Oconee, is hosting the tournament and has indicated that every effort will be made to start games as early as possible, even if that means being ahead of schedule because a previous game was shorter than expected. He also announced that ticket prices are set at $7 per day or $12 for the entire tournament.

The tournament is a basic doubleelimination format with a singlegame championship to be played next Friday, May 4. The winning team may play as few as four games en route to the championship, or as many as six, depending on the brackets.

Rain could play an important role in the outcome of the tournament and Sapp has issued the following statement addressing that possibility:

"If the tournament gets rained out on the last day and seeding cannot be determined or the champion cannot be crowned for seeding purposes, a coin flip will determine the #2 and #3 seed unless they have previously played in the region tournament. If they have played, the winner of that game will be the #2 seed and the loser will be the #3 seed. The champion will be the only undefeated team in the winner's bracket. If the championship game is rained out, the champion will be declared by the team that is undefeated and the team with one loss is the runner up. The championship game is a one-game championship."

Win or lose, the Tigers played two games on Wednesday, April 25. If one of those game was a win for WW, the Tigers' next game will be on Monday, April 30 at either 3 p.m. or 6 p.m. depending on their record. After that, championship rounds will be played on May 4.

Directions to game locations, as provided by NOHS, are as follows:

To Smith Field: From the Athens Bypass (10 loop), take Exit 1 (Epps Bridge Pkwy./Ga. 316) toward Athens. Turn right at the red light at Jennings Pkwy. (Lowe's on left, Home Depot on right). Take the first left on Old Epps Bridge Road (behind Zaxby's). Smith Field is 0.7 mile on the right.

To North Oconee High School: From the Athens Bypass (10 loop), take Exit 4 (on the outer loop) or 4A (on the inner loop) toward Watkinsville (U.S. 441 S.). Go three miles, then turn right onto Hog Mountain Road (Racetrac gas station). NOHS is eight miles on the right.

The Tigers will still have one regular season game after the conclusion of the region tournament. On Monday, May 7, the team will travel to Lincoln County for one last encounter with the Red Devils.