The when and where had been decided. All that was left to figure out was the who.
The baseball squads from Durango and Bayfield high schools locked up berths in the double-elimination state tournament in their respective classes with district titles Saturday. The brackets for the elite eight were released Sunday.
In Class 4A, the Demons (11-10) were seeded fifth out of the remaining eight teams and will face a familiar foe in Cañon City (13-8) at 12:30 p.m. Friday at Coca Cola All-Star Park in Lakewood. Bayfield, meanwhile, retained its No. 3 seed in Class 3A, and the 19-2 Wolverines will face No. 6 Brush (14-6) at 10 a.m. Friday at Jackson Field on the campus of the University of Northern Colorado.
Durango earned its berth, the school’s first since 2001 with wins over No. 21 Niwot and No. 28 Pueblo South on Saturday in Grand Junction.
The Demons have some recent history with Cañon City, which won its previously suspended district title game against Air Academy on Sunday. The Tigers came to Durango and ousted the Demons with a 7-4 win in the district championship game last season. More recently, the Demons returned the favor to a degree with a 19-6 win over the Tigers to open this season.
The winner of that game will meet the winner of No. 1 Pueblo West and No. 8 Northridge at 3 p.m. Friday. The losers of both games drop to a consolation bracket contest at 11 a.m. Saturday.
The Wolverines, meanwhile, advanced with a pair of mercy-rule wins over No. 30 Florence and No. 14 Cedaredge at home in Bayfield, the latter victory coming via a no-hitter from pitcher Clay Miller.
Bayfield will be making its first appearance in the state’s final eight since 2008, and the Wolverines currently are riding a 16-game winning streak. The Wolverines last defeat came in a 4-3 setback against Farmington on March 21. A win would set BHS up with No. 2 Faith Christian or No. 7 Lamar at 3 p.m. Friday.
heraldsports @durangoherald.com
