May 16, 2011
Ideally, baseball and softball state championships should be determined by a double-elimination tournament -- in other words, you have to lose twice to be eliminated and you can still win the tournament with one loss but coming back through the loser's bracket.
This is because, especially in baseball, of the variable of pitching. A team would not be able to rely on a single ace pitcher and would have to demonstrate the depth of its pitching staff against top competition.
Double-elimination also is more fair in that the state champion is more likely to be the best team in the tournament, not the one that got a freaky break on a particular play at some random juncture of the tournament. In other words, quality of play rather than luck would be the deciding factor.
I understand that weather, venues and logistical issues (for example, bringing the top eight teams together at a single site for what would likely be at least a 3- or 4-day tournament) make a double-elimination tournament problematic. Also, for fairness purposes, the schedule would have to be arranged so that no team was required to play more than twice in a single day.
Perhaps the WIAA could rent Cheney Stadium in Tacoma or even Safeco Field. Or a park on the east side, to better guarantee favorable weather for the tournament.
But I think the double-elimination format would produce a true champion and would also create more excitement surrounding the tournament -- much as the state basketball tournaments generate, with all-day scheduling, school supporters spending a long weekend in the host city, making the games a destination that would potentially attract casual fans.
Perhaps Memorial Day weekend could become Championship Weekend for baseball and softball.
Just an opinion.
