Both Warren Central and St. Aloysius have known for a while that they’ll be in the playoffs. They’ve even known, more or less, when and where they’ll play.

As for who, and exactly when, well that’s been more of a mystery.

WC opens the Class 5A playoffs on today at home against Ocean Springs at 1 p.m.. St. Al will host Ethel at 4 p.m. in the Class 1A playoffs at Bazinsky Park. Both matchups are doubleheaders. If a Game 3 is necessary, it will be played Monday at the other team’s park.

Because of late-season division games and a slew of rainouts earlier this week, the final first-round opponents for both teams were not determined until Thursday night.

Neither WC coach Dana McGivney nor St. Al’s Gene Rogillio were sweating the uncertainty, though. They figure if their teams are ready to play, they’ll do well no matter who’s in the other dugout.

&#8220When you get to this point, unless another team is truly dominant, you’re going to be on a level playing field. It’s who hits and who doesn’t make errors,” Rogillio said.

Rogillio added that errors aren’t as big a concern for the Lady Flashes as are hits. They’ve struggled at the plate at times this season, and a strong pitcher or bad day today could send them packing earlier than they hoped.

&#8220Hitting has always been a concern,” Rogillio said. &#8220Defensively, we’re probably as good as we’ve been. We’re spending all of our time working on hitting this week.”

At Warren Central, McGivney had planned a series of tuneup games against some of the state’s toughest teams, but it has come with mixed results.

After clinching the Division 6-5A championship with a win over winless Natchez on April 3, WC was trounced 12-0 by Madison Central and had a game against Clinton rained out. On Thursday, the Lady Vikes beat Lawrence County, the Division 6-4A champion.

Despite the setbacks, McGivney wasn’t concerned.

&#8220They’re working hard in practice and we’re going to be OK. We’re getting where we need to be,” she said.

Like Rogillio, McGivney knew little about her potential first-round opponent. It came down to Ocean Springs or Pascagoula, and she did her best to track down information on both teams. What she found was that both were quite similar, and fairly even with the Lady Vikes (12-9-1).

&#8220Pascagoula likes to bunt a lot, and both pitchers throw in the low 50s. They’re pretty even teams,” McGivney said. &#8220It should be a good first-round matchup. If we bring our ‘A’ game, we’ll be OK.”

While WC and St. Al have searched high and low for information, the Vicksburg Missy Gators have had their travel plans set for a while. Vicksburg will take the long bus ride north to Tupelo to face the Division 2-5A champion in a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.

The Missy Gators enter the playoffs with a less-than-impressive 6-10 record, but first-year coach Amanda Yocum said the mark is deceiving. Four of the losses have been by one run, and only one has come via the 10-run mercy rule.

Being competitive, and showing improvement from last year, has lifted the Missy Gators’ confidence. And while they’re a longshot for a state title this season, winning a playoff series or even forcing a Game 3 this weekend would be a huge step toward next year, Yocum said.

&#8220Six-and-10 doesn’t maybe look as good as we fell it is,” Yocum said with a laugh. &#8220They’ve come a long way from last year.”