Scooter Chapman
Prep playoffs made a mess
Published on Wed, May 12, 2010 by Scooter ChapmanRead More Chapman
Depending on which newspaper you read, the Olympic League's sub-district playoff cancellation for baseball and softball was the Olympic League's fault or the Western Cascade Conference's fault.
In case you didn't know, the two leagues, which played sub-district tournaments in volleyball, soccer and basketball, were working on a compromise for this spring but an agreement could not be reached, according to Bremerton athletic director George Duarte.
Seems other sports had a two-year deal, but baseball and softball did not hold a sub-district last year so the sub-district could not be played as three of the four Olympic League 3A schools drop to 2A status in the fall, while the 3A teams in Olympia area are going to the South Puget Sound League.
The Olympic League moguls said let's play a sub-district where the No. 1 teams meet at a neutral site for top two seeds to district and the No. 2s would play for third and fourth seed.
According to the Daily Olympian, the WCC thought it already had an agreement in place and it opted out. North Kitsap and Olympic will be the district entries.
It means that Port Angeles, the No. 3 team in the Olympic League, would be out of playoff consideration altogether. Since the district began yesterday, no playoffs were held.
We won't have to worry next year since all teams in the Olympic League will be 2A except 3A Bremerton and there should be lots of chances to play in the postseason.
Meanwhile, Sequim's baseball squad was at Fife yesterday for a playoff game and the winner gets Kingston on Friday at Legion Field in Bremerton with a chance to get one of two entries to state.
New hoopla
The WIAA approved a measure for 2010-2011 to renovate the 16-team state basketball tournaments and it's all about the money, folks - the filthy, green stuff.
Under the new basketball format, as I understand it, 16 teams from each classification will compete in first-round games at local/regional sites Feb. 25-26. Eight teams will move to state tournaments March 3-5 in a double-elimination format that finds six finishers getting trophies.
State title sites will be in Spokane (1b-2b), Yakima (1a-2a) and Tacoma (3a-4a).
Why the changes?
The WIAA says it will cut travel costs and missed school time but the main reason was poor attendance at the consolation games, especially late in the state tournaments.
The state masterminds contributed to the lack of attendance by moving the quarterfinal games to evening. When the 16-team tournaments flourished, eight games were played first day.
Second day started with two loser-out games, then two quarterfinal games, then a loser-out game, followed by two quarterfinal games, then a loser-out game.
In the past few years, the four consolation games opened the second day, then the four quarterfinal games. It was no wonder a lot of fans didn't show for the first four games.
Granted, the new format will mean teams and students will miss one less day, but the experience of those first eight games in a tournament where all teams have a shot at going all the way, will be down to eight games of win or go home right away.
By the way, seeding stats and regional sites still are being discussed.
Lacrosse
The Port Angeles and Sequim youths who took part in the Olympic Peninsula Mountaineers lacrosse season had a great time and wound up with a 13-1 win at Mount Si to help them to a playoff in Wenatchee. (See photo, B-4.)
The team was 8-5 overall with a mixture of players who had experience and those who picked up a lacrosse stick for the first time. Port Angeles had to drop the sport due to budget cuts, but the club program proved popular. Dave Farrington and company deserve a big hand for the hard work they put in.
One more note: the WIAA shot down a proposal to pick up lacrosse for girls and the vote was 44-8. The boys amendment didn't make the floor even though there are some 100 high schools involved in the fast-growing sport that is huge on the East Coast.
Strong festival
The Sequim Strongman Showdown played before a big crowd last week and the loggers put on quite a show to help wind up a super week celebrating the 115th Irrigation Festival.
The six strongmen said they really enjoyed the enthusiasm of the fans and promised to be back next year to honor the memory of the late Jesse Marunde who was Sequim's super strongman.
The fast-paced logging show entertained a huge throng and the sun-drenched fans enjoyed everything from huge corn dogs to the pole climbing. It was quite a site as nearly 20 poles came down like toothpicks to wind up the show.
Well done, everybody.
Columns by KONP 1450 AM sports announcer Scooter Chapman appear weekly in the Sequim Gazette. He can be reached via e-mail at scooter@olypen.com.
In case you didn't know, the two leagues, which played sub-district tournaments in volleyball, soccer and basketball, were working on a compromise for this spring but an agreement could not be reached, according to Bremerton athletic director George Duarte.
Seems other sports had a two-year deal, but baseball and softball did not hold a sub-district last year so the sub-district could not be played as three of the four Olympic League 3A schools drop to 2A status in the fall, while the 3A teams in Olympia area are going to the South Puget Sound League.
The Olympic League moguls said let's play a sub-district where the No. 1 teams meet at a neutral site for top two seeds to district and the No. 2s would play for third and fourth seed.
According to the Daily Olympian, the WCC thought it already had an agreement in place and it opted out. North Kitsap and Olympic will be the district entries.
It means that Port Angeles, the No. 3 team in the Olympic League, would be out of playoff consideration altogether. Since the district began yesterday, no playoffs were held.
We won't have to worry next year since all teams in the Olympic League will be 2A except 3A Bremerton and there should be lots of chances to play in the postseason.
Meanwhile, Sequim's baseball squad was at Fife yesterday for a playoff game and the winner gets Kingston on Friday at Legion Field in Bremerton with a chance to get one of two entries to state.
New hoopla
The WIAA approved a measure for 2010-2011 to renovate the 16-team state basketball tournaments and it's all about the money, folks - the filthy, green stuff.
Under the new basketball format, as I understand it, 16 teams from each classification will compete in first-round games at local/regional sites Feb. 25-26. Eight teams will move to state tournaments March 3-5 in a double-elimination format that finds six finishers getting trophies.
State title sites will be in Spokane (1b-2b), Yakima (1a-2a) and Tacoma (3a-4a).
Why the changes?
The WIAA says it will cut travel costs and missed school time but the main reason was poor attendance at the consolation games, especially late in the state tournaments.
The state masterminds contributed to the lack of attendance by moving the quarterfinal games to evening. When the 16-team tournaments flourished, eight games were played first day.
Second day started with two loser-out games, then two quarterfinal games, then a loser-out game, followed by two quarterfinal games, then a loser-out game.
In the past few years, the four consolation games opened the second day, then the four quarterfinal games. It was no wonder a lot of fans didn't show for the first four games.
Granted, the new format will mean teams and students will miss one less day, but the experience of those first eight games in a tournament where all teams have a shot at going all the way, will be down to eight games of win or go home right away.
By the way, seeding stats and regional sites still are being discussed.
Lacrosse
The Port Angeles and Sequim youths who took part in the Olympic Peninsula Mountaineers lacrosse season had a great time and wound up with a 13-1 win at Mount Si to help them to a playoff in Wenatchee. (See photo, B-4.)
The team was 8-5 overall with a mixture of players who had experience and those who picked up a lacrosse stick for the first time. Port Angeles had to drop the sport due to budget cuts, but the club program proved popular. Dave Farrington and company deserve a big hand for the hard work they put in.
One more note: the WIAA shot down a proposal to pick up lacrosse for girls and the vote was 44-8. The boys amendment didn't make the floor even though there are some 100 high schools involved in the fast-growing sport that is huge on the East Coast.
Strong festival
The Sequim Strongman Showdown played before a big crowd last week and the loggers put on quite a show to help wind up a super week celebrating the 115th Irrigation Festival.
The six strongmen said they really enjoyed the enthusiasm of the fans and promised to be back next year to honor the memory of the late Jesse Marunde who was Sequim's super strongman.
The fast-paced logging show entertained a huge throng and the sun-drenched fans enjoyed everything from huge corn dogs to the pole climbing. It was quite a site as nearly 20 poles came down like toothpicks to wind up the show.
Well done, everybody.
Columns by KONP 1450 AM sports announcer Scooter Chapman appear weekly in the Sequim Gazette. He can be reached via e-mail at scooter@olypen.com.
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