"I think for the last three years we've won almost every ballgame going into the end of the season," said Stephens, whose team won 17 of its final 18 regular season games last year heading into the district tournament.
"For some reason we can't find a groove. We're really up and down and it's weird this time of year to be like that."
When the three teams tied for first in the district, Casey took the third seed because it had given up more runs in its first games against district opponents. Boyle earned the top seed by virtue of its 4-2 win over Danville earlier this season.
Boyle coach Heather Oates said that while the district is a tossup, she still favors seeding the tournament.
"I'm a fan of seeding when you send two people to the region," Oates said. "If only one team was going, then you can draw. But even with the seeding, this is still anybody's ballgame."
"Everybody's beat everybody in the district, so the seeds don't mean much," Danville coach Jerry Perry said. "I think it's good we do that, because there may be years it does mean a lot. This year that's not the case."
It's a new look for the district, which reorganized after last season.
In come Casey and Lincoln, who previously were in a three-team district with Garrard County, and out go Burgin, Harrodsburg and Mercer County to the 44th District with Garrard County.
Each team has been to the regional tourney in the past three years
Each of the four teams in the new 45th District have been to the 12th Region Tournament at least once in the past three years, but now they will have to battle each other for two spots.
"I think it's good," Lincoln coach Pam Young said.
"It used to be that you had two teams that were lacking in quite a bit of talent and two teams that dominated. Now it's a four-team field. That says a lot for softball in this area. I think the team that wins is the team that wants it the most."
None of the coaches were ready to make any kind of predictions about the outcome of the tournament.
"Whoever plays well all the way through their lineup at the same time for two games will win the tournament," Perry said.
"That's the way it's going to be. You can toss everybody in the hat and pick out the winner just as well as play the games if everyone plays as inconsistent as they are."
"It really seems like we can't control what's going to happen," Stephens said. "That's probably my biggest worry. It's frustrating not knowing how we're going to be playing."
44th District tourney is not as balanced
The 44th District tournament at Burgin isn't quite as balanced. Top-seeded Garrard will take on winless Harrodsburg and No. 2 seed Mercer will face Burgin Monday.
Garrard is 12-13, but a perfect 6-0 in the district after outscoring opponents 76-3.
The Lions are playing for their second coach, as Jeff Meadors took over when Ernie Browning resigned.
Mercer beat Burgin 15-3 the first time they met, but won just 17-16 two days later in the rematch.
Harrodsburg has been outscored 98-11 in its six district games.
