Purity of baseball compromised by new Class 6A and 5A format

In 6A, it was 26-3 in favor of moving to a district format, which would rely on district standings to determine regional playoffs instead of rankings. In 5A, it was 13-3 that approved the format.

So, why was it when the OSSAA board of directors approved the district format Wednesday for fastpitch softball and baseball, the coaches were more miffed than excited?

Because the baseball coaches, for the lack of a better term, felt they were misled by what the association was asking for.

Was moving to four eight-team districts part of the proposal? You betcha. But so was a not-so-little change with the state tournament going from a double elimination to a single elimination format.

“No baseball coach in their right mind would have voted for that,” Deer Creek coach Ron Moore said. “That wasn't even discussed. That's not how baseball is played.”

The board talked about the days of the players being out of school as one of the biggest reasons for the change.

The current format runs Wednesday-Saturday, while the new, approved format will eliminate that fourth day and will most likely run Thursday-Saturday.

What has irked a lot of the baseball coaches is at the top levels of the game, it's a grind. The College World Series is a double elimination format. And obviously, the World Series is a best-of-7.