’Pen Pal
THE strike is over and the public schools are back in session. Due to the loss in class time, the Hawaii High School Athletic Association has had to amend the format for next month's state baseball tournament at Aloha Stadium. Teams should
get a second chance
in state tourneyThe tournament field has been cut from 12 to eight teams.
The standard format has been a single-elimination, 12-team tournament for years, but I've never believed this format is the way to go. To really see who the best high school team in the state is, a double-elimination tournament is necessary. The current system doesn't always determine who is the best.
Baseball is a game where any team can beat another team at any given time. Look at Maryknoll in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu. The team's record isn't very good, yet it has been a giant killer, beating St. Louis, Kamehameha and Punahou in succession. Then we can look at the Rainbows. They went to Texas earlier in the month and took two of three from nationally ranked Rice.
One of the beauties of baseball is the way the ball bounces. You never know when a bad hop will occur, or how the wind will affect the flight of the ball. This often leads to the defeat of a good team. A new format would give the team another chance.
A double-elimination tournament will also reduce the possibility of human error -- namely umpires -- costing a team a victory. I have never seen an umpire cost a team a victory -- except once.
Never will I forget a state game against Maui in 1987, when I was coaching Punahou. We had an outstanding team, and so did Maui.
Bill Blanchette hit a two-run home run for Punahou, but the umpire called spectator interference. Prior to the game at the coach-umpire conference, it was mentioned that everything in the outfield was in play. We had videotape showing no obstruction took place, yet we were penalized and ended up losing the game. The loss took us out of the championship bracket.
A double-elimination tournament would have helped us, as it would in countless other instances when a good team loses. We've all seen a team, however difficult it is, come back from the loser's bracket to win the championship. The format would bring meaning to otherwise meaningless games. Currently, a losing team plays another game the next day, but there's little incentive.
I REALIZE that there will be strong opposition to a proposal like this, because there has been in the past. But the coaches would jump at it because they realize how the game is played and how easy it is to lose if the ball doesn't bounce their way.
Even if the number of teams is reduced to eight, the way it was for years, the double-elimination format is the way. An eight-team tournament can be completed in four days, a 12-team tournament in five days.
Personally I'd like to see the 12-team double-elimination format. The ILH uses the double-elimination format for its tournament, which began last week, and it works.
Make the games count for something. Make it more interesting for the players, coaches, families and fans. Institute a double-elimination tournament.
Pal Eldredge is a baseball commentator for KFVE
and former varsity baseball coach at Punahou School.
His column runs Mondays during the Major League Baseball season.
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