Staff file photo / Neel Madhavan. Austintown Fitch’s Abby Toth (10) swings at a pitch during the Falcons’ road win on April 21 at Canfield.

Local teams have had to battle through various weather conditions throughout the spring, facing rain, hail, wind and brisk temperatures, along with occasional days of warmth and sunshine.

But after an unpredictable season, the high school softball playoffs finally begin this week, as the OHSAA revealed the rest of the brackets on Sunday.

Several area teams have had their strong seasons rewarded with high seeds in their respective regions, including No. 1 Austintown Fitch in Division I, No. 2 Lakeview in Division IV, No. 2 South Range and No. 3 Cardinal Mooney in Division V, No. 1 McDonald in Division VI and No. 1 Maplewood, No. 2 Jackson-Milton and No. 3 Badger in Division VII.

No. 1 seed and undefeated Austintown Fitch is seeking its third state championship in Division I in the last four years. The Falcons will begin their postseason journey against the winner of Cleveland John Hay and Canton McKinley. In Division II, No. 27 seed Warren G. Harding will visit No. 3 seed Green for their opening round matchup.

Division III features two teams that have made runs to the state final four in recent years — No. 9 seed Boardman and No. 13 seed Canfield. The Spartans will open against No. 45 Youngstown East, while the Cardinals will host No. 43 Ashtabula Lakeside. In other districts, No. 8 Ursuline will host No. 16 seed Louisville and No. 14 seed Howland will take on No. 37 seed Chaney.

Lakeview leads the way in Division IV. The second-seeded Bulldogs will host the winner of No. 29 Struthers and No. 20 Salem in the sectional final. Fellow Northeast 8 foe Hubbard is the No. 8 seed and is set to open against No. 32 Cleveland Central Catholic. Also, No. 24 seed Niles will host No. 26 seed Lutheran West, while No. 16 West Branch will travel to face No. 14 Canal Fulton Northwest.

In Division V, No. 2 seed South Range awaits the winner of Orville and Canton South, while No. 3 seed Cardinal Mooney will host the winner of Southeast and No. 15 seed Columbiana. In the Northeast 3 district, No. 27 Liberty will visit No. 7 Lagrange Keystone and No. 17 Poland will host No. 26 Southern. Then in Northeast 4, No. 10 Girard is set to take on No. 21 West Salem Northwestern and No. 18 Canton Central Catholic will travel to No. 14 Pymatuning Valley. Finally, No. 6 seed Champion is scheduled to host No. 20 Garfield.

McDonald will have a target on its back as the No. 1 seed in the region, and the Blue Devils await the winner of No. 24 Kirtland and No. 18 East Palestine. Elsewhere in the Northeast 4 district, No. 14 Springfield will head to take on No. 9 Waterloo and No. 12 Brookfield will visit No. 8 Columbia Station Columbia. No. 7 seed LaBrae will host No. 26 Grand Valley in its first game, while No. 6 Mineral Ridge will host No. 28 seed Warren JFK. Rounding out Division VI is No. 23 Campbell Memorial taking on No. 21 Newton Falls and No. 13 Crestview hosting No. 15 Loudonville.

Finally, in Division VII, No. 1 seed Maplewood opted for an opening-round bye and will face the winner of Rittman and Wellsville, while No. 2 seed Jackson-Milton will begin its tournament run against No. 18 Sebring. Then No. 15 seed Lordstown is scheduled to face No. 14 Lisbon, No. 13 Bristol will head north to battle No. 5 seed Cuyahoga Heights and No. 12 Lowellville will take on No. 7 Western Reserve in an all-local matchup. Also, No. 3 seed Badger gets No. 21 Open Door Christian as its first tournament matchup. Rounding out the bracket is No. 20 Kidron Central Catholic visiting No. 10 Mathews, while No. 6 seed Chalker hosts No. 19 Leetonia.