Maine
For 2nd straight year, all Maine high school spring sports teams will qualify for playoff
The daybreak of a brand new spring sports activities season for Maine highschool groups brings with it some lingering lodging for the presence of COVID-19 in addition to some scheduling adjustments for the regional and state championship video games in baseball and softball.
Open tournaments are deliberate for the Heal level sports activities being contested — baseball, softball, tennis and lacrosse — for the second straight spring, with all groups being eligible to take part in postseason play.
Groups could have the choice of declining these playoff alternatives, however gained’t be penalized if they’re unable to play all of the video games on their schedules as a consequence of points associated to the coronavirus.
Below Maine Principals’ Affiliation guidelines, usually if a crew doesn’t full its schedule as soon as it begins the common season, it’s suspended from varsity competitors for the next two years.
“The variety of COVID instances and the affect they’re having on colleges has declined considerably but it surely hasn’t gone away,” MPA interscholastic govt director Mike Burnham mentioned. “So we determined to take yet one more season and if colleges are having to take care of it then we’re not going to take away their groups from the playoffs. We’re very completely happy that we’re in a position to transfer ahead with a considerably regular sort of season, however I feel we’d be kidding ourselves if we thought there wasn’t the potential for some affect.”
Open tournaments have been held since final spring, together with the 2021 fall and 2021-22 winter sports activities seasons, with an extra spherical of postseason play added when vital and the standard preliminary spherical expanded to a Spherical of 16 to accommodate groups that needed to take part in event competitors.
Plans name for a return to the standard postseason system in Heal level sports activities this fall, with groups then needing to finish their regular-season schedules to be eligible for postseason play and the highest 67 % of the groups in every division qualifying for the playoffs.
One change for the highschool baseball and softball seasons would be the staging of all regional championship video games on the identical Tuesday, this 12 months on June 14.
Previously these video games have been cut up between the Tuesday and Wednesday of championship week, however the potential of video games having to be rescheduled as a consequence of inclement climate might postpone regional video games till Thursday, leaving simply at some point for the winners between that recreation and the state closing.
Below the brand new schedule, all regional finals will likely be scheduled for Tuesday of state championship week, with Wednesday as a rain date.
That change was accepted in 2020 to be used starting with the 2021 season however due to persevering with COVID-19 issues and the restricted availability of some amenities to accommodate the additional video games on the identical day final 12 months, it was postponed till this spring.
“The request got here from the colleges themselves,” Burnham mentioned. “We very often have wanted to postpone video games on both Tuesday or Wednesday and reschedule them to Thursday. That solely left at some point for groups earlier than the state recreation, and that may have an effect on pitching. Scheduling the entire video games on Tuesday simply places all people on the identical schedule.”
The necessity for extra baseball and softball fields to accommodate all of the regional finals on the identical day has added some new host websites to the combo, with the College of Southern Maine in Gorham and the College of Maine in Orono becoming a member of the rotation this 12 months.
Northern Maine regional baseball finals will likely be performed Tuesday, June 14, on the following areas: Class A, Morton Discipline in Augusta; Class B, College of Maine; Lessons C and D, Mansfield Stadium in Bangor.
In southern Maine, St. Joseph’s Faculty in Standish will host the baseball regional championships in Lessons A and C whereas USM will host the Lessons B and D finals.
State championship baseball video games are set for Saturday, June 18, at Morton Discipline (Class A), Mansfield Stadium (Class C) and the College of Southern Maine (Lessons B and D).
Northern Maine softball finals will likely be held at Cony Excessive Faculty in Augusta (Class A), the College of Maine (Class B) and Brewer Excessive Faculty (Lessons C and D), although Burnham mentioned with development deliberate on the UMaine softball advanced as soon as the Black Bears’ season concludes it’s doable the Class B closing may very well be shifted to Brewer Excessive Faculty as a part of a championship tripleheader.
The Lessons A and C South softball finals will likely be held at Saint Joseph’s Faculty whereas the B and D video games will likely be performed at USM.
State championship softball video games will likely be performed on June 18 at Cony Excessive Faculty (Class A), Brewer Excessive Faculty (Class C) and USM (Lessons B and D).