Area 3 Playoffs thru the semifinals...

Well I stand corrected, was only going by what the Area Commish told me immediately when the game was suspended last night. But instead of picking up Game 3 today at 4:00 with South leading 3-1 in the 4th inning,,, apparently Randolph County protested and it was determined this game would start completely over from the beginning, and they would play a full 9 innings. Game 4 (for some reason) will NOT be played after the 4pm game, for whatever reason Game 4 will not be played until Friday night, at South. I don't really understand the putting Game 4 off until Friday night or what it does for anyone, because unless the deadline for completing this series (Saturday) has been waived by the commissioner, with a Game 4 on Friday, a 7 game series is completely out of the question.

Congrats RaleighDevil,,, you called that one.

 

As usual, the precedent is not followed and everything changes when we get to the playoffs. On Tuesday, Rowan and Burlington started a game and was suspended because of rain. On Wednesday, Rowan and Burlington continued where they left off. The Commishioner allowed that to happen and it appeared that would be the rule for the rest of the playoffs. On that same Wednesday, South and Randolph started a game that was not officially finished and was suspended because of rain. Today, suddenly the rules are different. Last night, before the teams left the field, South and Randolph AGREED to finish the completed game at 4 and then play game 4 at 7. Today, Randolph decided they did not want to do that and protested, wanting to play 2 complete 9 inning games starting at 4. It doesn't make much sense to play a doubleheader with the first game starting at 4 so South decided they were only playing one, which Randolph won 6-2 to take a 3-0 series lead. This obviously is not the first time situations like this have happened in the last few years. Is it too much to ask from the people in charge that the same rule be applied to all games? Or should we just continue to make things up as we go and hope everybody's happy?

 

Burlington beats Rowan 2-1 and leads the series 3-2.

WP: Cale Rogers
LP: Tanner Brown

Both pitched complete games and all 3 runs were on solo home runs.

HR: Burlington: Anthony Hazar (?), Colt Johnson
Rowan: Justin Roland


Disclaimer: Sorry if the names are off, radio's kind of spotty.

 

Well legionguy17 provided pretty good details. Tanner Brown pitched well but didn't get too much support. Rowan left way too many runners on base early on and then late they didn't get much going. Rowan had runners on the corners with no outs in the top of the 2nd but somehow left them out there. It seemed very miniscus early, but ended up coming back to haunt Rowan. Rowan also had runners on second and third with one out and failed to score. You cannot do that and expect to win. J-Rol's homerun was all Rowan could muster tonight. Rogers pitched a great game and then late Rowan was swinging for the fences. Rowan will once again try and tie the series back home Friday night. Zack Simpson should get the start.

 

You're exactly right in that with Legion baseball the rules are whatever the area despots say they are. I don't use despot entirely in the negative sense, but only to mean that they often do what they think is best. That's why you have rules that vary with the individual.

As I said in an earlier post, this is not a tournament setting; therefore a game should be considered rained out if it does not go five innings. We are following MLB rules.

This is another reason why all these things should be discussed before the season and then put on paper. We should not be having "rulings" at this time of the season.

BTW, I talked with our previous coach tonight about the suspended game situation, and he had never heard of such a thing. We've never had a game of less than five innings suspended since I've been in it.

 

RaleighDevil,

I pretty much agree with the ruling. It's just the manner in which it was made, coupled with the fact that the exact same scenario was allowed to occur 10 miles north a day earlier. The rules should be set in stone before the playoffs start and they should not be tinkered with. As another example, in the first round, the commish said if 2 games were rained out, the series would be 2 out of 3. Well that happened in the South Rowan/Concord series, but they were left playing at noon because of the potential of a game 5 at night. I'm sure there are many more examples of these type of situations. In this particular case, the game should have been restarted, and 2 9 inning games should have been played at 2 and 7. But when you don't start til 4, it's hard to play a doubleheader. That decision should have been made Wednesday night, not Thursday afternoon during batting practice.

 

Was just informed that both Area 3 semifinal series will be allowed to run into Sunday if need be. Still will be difficult to get in the South/Rand series if South goes on winning streak, this being Friday afternoon already with only 3 games under the belt.

As for the inconsistent rulings, I just don't understand how difficult it is to WRITE THESE issues down and stick to it. Rules should not change night to night, or area to area.

I just discovered that Hope Mills will be in Gastonia at the state tournament because the 5th game of the Area 2 semifinal series was rained out. They were tied 2 games apiece with Whiteville and because the 5th game was rained out, it was reverted back to a best of 3 series, which Hope Mills won. My question is, just like Area 3 made this round a 7 game series because of its importance,,,, why didn't Area 2 do the same thing? Sending Whiteville home when in fact they were tied 2 games apiece is a tough way to go home. There is plenty of time to get the next series in before the state tourney starts Aug. 5. Heck the area championship series is just for a trophy anyway and it can be decided with one game if you have to. Seeding at the state tournament means nothing when everyone gets there, because anyone going there with your chest sticking out because your a 1 seed, you will go home quickly. Just my 2 cents.

Good Luck to South tonite, looks like I'll be at Newman Park.

 

The failure to write procedures has been a source of contention for as long as I can remember.

We had one commissioner pair the first and third place teams on the same side of the bracket. (Wayne was the beneficiary of that ruling.) Then there was the suspended game both teams lost. We all can go on and on.

This season, our commissioner sent the tiebreaker procedures in the last week or so of the season. It's not that they were stupid. It's that they should have been discussed at the spring meeting and put on paper.

We are generally governed by MLB rules, but commissioners have to deal with extraordinary situations that may be unique to our level of play. What happens if the last day to play a series is on a Saturday and you have two games left? Could he say play a day-night DH? Sounds reasonable to me but others may differ.

Was there an "understanding" that Area III playoff games could be suspended? This goes against the rules of MLB. If you're going to do that, have it in writing at the start of the season. Otherwise, you just don't want a situation in which the local potentate rules that the games will be resumed the next day. We should be an organization of laws, not men.

What happened in Area II is a travesty. As I posted yesterday, our commissioner said the league finals are more important and should be played to their conclusion.

 

The league finals mean absolutely nothing, except giving one team a trophy. Whichever round that determines the 2 state tournament participants (in Area 3 its the 3rd round) is CLEARLY THE MOST IMPORTANT round in the playoffs, PERIOD.

I agree that some area commissioners realize this, and some don't. In Area 3, all the coaches brought this up at an area preseason meeting several years ago, so Area 3 has generally recognized the semifinals as the most important round, making it a 7-game series in an attempt to get your best 2 teams.

As for Area 3 having an agreement on suspended play, all I can tell you is what I've heard, and its heresay. But apparently the area commissioner and both coaches (South Rowan and Randolph County) all agreed to suspend Game 3 with South leading 3-1 and they would come back the next day and continue that game beginning at 4pm, followed by Game 4 at 7pm. I don't know who got in touch with who, but apparently the word came down at 1:40pm that next day they couldn't do that, they had to start from scratch at the very beginning. It don't matter to me, but I think it should always be consistent. And it isn't.

 

I am in the minority when it comes to the importance of the area championships. Take this year's tournament. Would you just as soon play Pineville or Cherryville the first round as Gastonia? Did the latter finish with a losing record?

Playing one less game against a top team leaves you more room for error.

I don't get where Legion officials and coaches think they can "agree" to do something. We have rules, and you don't suspend a game before the fifth inning. It's that simple.