Last fall, the 4A East region of the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association field hockey tournament was the equivalent of a steel cage match, with four of the area's top seven ranked teams all bunched in the same area. The release of the MPSSAA softball draw yesterday revealed another contentious bunching of Anne Arundel County teams, with four of the area's top 15 teams in the mix in the same 4A East region.

Top-ranked Chesapeake got the No. 1 seed in the region, and a bye into the quarterfinals next Monday. The Cougars' likely reward for a dazzling regular season is a potential meeting with No. 15 Severna Park, provided the Falcons get past Old Mill in the first round Friday. (Parenthetically, the fact that Severna Park got a No. 8 seed even with an 11-7 record is point No. 1 million for why the MPSSAA should seed teams all the way through the draws in all sports, rather than just in football. The only fair way to decide a championship is to distribute all teams through a bracket on their merits, rather than relying on seeding the top four in a region, then positioning the rest of the teams by the blind luck of a computer. OK, rant over).

In the 3A bracket, Franklin grabbed the top seed in the North region, and a bye into the quarterfinals, where they will meet the winner of the Patterson-Hereford first-round game. On the other side of the North draw, keep an eye out for next Monday's Western-Catonsville quarterfinals matchup. The two schools have developed a healthy rivalry in a number of sports, particularly in basketball and a few hoopsters also play softball. In the East region, there's a potentially sensational regional semifinal brewing between second-seeded Atholton, the area's 12th-ranked team and fifth-ranked Northeast, which got the third seed in the region.

Unranked Eastern Tech has the No. 1 seed in the 2A North region, and will face the winner of the Samuel Banks-Edmondson first-round game. On the other side of the bracket, fourth-ranked Hammond, the defending 2A champion, got the second seed in the South region and a wicked draw. The Bears, led by pitcher Stephanie Speierman, will likely have to get past seventh-seeded Calvert, a six-time state titlist, in the quarterfinals and a possible regional final match on the road against Gwynn Park of Prince George's County.

In the 1A draw, two area teams got No. 1 seeds. Glenelg, the 13th-ranked team in this week's Sun poll, is at the top of the South region and will get the winner of the Bohemia Manor-Surrattsville first-round game. Meanwhile, Sparrows Point received the No. 1 seed in the North region, and the requisite bye into the quarterfinals, where they will host the winner of the W.E.B. DuBois-Forest Park opening-round game. Keep an eye out for Western Tech, on the other side of the North draw, to possibly make some noise out of the No. 6 seed.

The regional winners in all four classes advance to the beautiful Bachman Park for what should be an epic day of softball semifinals on May 20, with the winners advancing to the University of Maryland on May 24 for the championship matches. Frankly, it would be much better for all parties if the finals were held at Bachman, rather than College Park.