Baseball teams playing the waiting game before state playoffs
By the time South Point plays its next baseball game, it will have seemed like an eternity since its last one.
Due to a quirk in the schedule and the absence of a conference tournament, the Red Raiders will have gone 10 days between games when they open the 3A state playoffs Friday.
“It gives us time to refocus,” South Point coach Jason Lineberger said. “We can obviously work on some things and I’m kind of glad we have it.”
South Point’s situation is an extreme example because its conference bye fell on the final regular-season playing date. Still, other Big South 3A Conference teams are going a full week without competition as they prepare for the postseason.
Some coaches would much rather play a conference tournament to tune up for the playoffs.
“On one hand, (the break) lets your pitchers rest up and anybody that’s aching anywhere, it lets them rest up,” North Gaston coach Jesse Martin said. “On the other hand, you don’t like to go that long without seeing live pitching. We’ll do a little intrasquad stuff but still that’s not the same as coming out here and competing in a game.”
The Big South and nearby Southern Piedmont Conference did away with their conference tournaments in 2007 when the N.C. High School Athletic Association expanded the playoff field to 64 teams in each classification, increasing the number of automatic playoff berths available to each conference.
The Southern Piedmont voted to bring back the league tournament this year, but the Big South coaches say they didn’t discuss the issue prior to this season.
“I’m personally a fan of conference tournaments,” Forestview coach Brian Horne said. “When it was 3A/4A, there wasn’t a reason to have it. Once we went back to 3A, we just haven’t brought up the issue I guess. I think it’ll be brought up again.”
In a cost-cutting measure, Gaston County athletic directors elected to shorten the regular season by two games this season, allowing teams to play no more than 21 contests. Martin said a conference tournament wouldn’t have counted toward the 21-game maximum because those games would have been considered part of the postseason.
“We would like to have had a tournament just so we can get more games in,” Martin said.
With or without a tournament, the season continues for South Point, North Gaston and Forestview, which earned the second through fourth seeds out of the Big South. Crest won the league title for the No. 1 seed. That means the season is over for Kings Mountain, Ashbrook and Hunter Huss.
“I’m all for playing baseball. I’d love (a tournament) right now,” Ashbrook coach Josh Cobb said. “We’ve got nothing to lose. You can never tell about a tournament situation. You get hot and win a couple of games and then you’re in the playoffs.”
The playoff brackets will be released Wednesday, but some teams already know their opponents. South Point plays host to the Northwestern No. 2 seed, North Gaston travels to the Appalachian No. 1 seed and Forestview visits South Mountain champion Patton.
Warriors set for tiebreaker game
East Gaston will visit Olympic at 5 p.m. Monday to settle the MEGA-7 3A/4A Conference’s No. 2 Class 3A playoff seed.
The teams tied with 7-5 league records, but Monday’s winner will earn a first-round home game, while the loser will take the No. 3 seed and hit the road in the first round.
East Gaston and Olympic split the regular-season series, with East Gaston winning 7-0 in the first meeting before losing the rematch 7-4.
Richard Walker contributed to this report. You can reach Phillip Gardner at 704-869-1843.
