Do we have a chance in the State Tournament?

First off, I apologize for not posting towards the end of last week. With preparing for the baseball broadcasts, other jobs, and well, okay, I admit, a Thursday late night gathering at the "establishment," I couldn't get on the computer to do the daily blogs. With that said, time to answer the subject question: Can a Big Island team win at the State Baseball Tourney?

YES.

Take a look over at Division II and you will see four teams, all with different roads to get to the crown. The 4th seed in Honokaa has a first round bye and awaits either Radford or Mokokai. I like their arms, yet I'm a tad disappointed with their bats, especially when I saw them on Saturday where they didn't take advantage of opportunities that were handed to them on a silver platter, and waited until the 6th inning to get their first hit.

Konawaena blew the DII championship, and has the task of playing Kalaheo. If they win, they face Waipahu. If they can cut down on the mistakes, they could surprise a few people, even myself.

HPA took third place at the BIIF Tourney, and got the luckiest draw of all. They face winless Maryknoll in the first round. Look for them to advance to the 2nd round against St. Anthony.

Kohala may be the most dangerous team of all. Disappointing showing at the BIIF tourney, which forced them into a first round game against Kahuku, who is more known for their football than baseball. If they get by, it sets up a showdown with Kauai. Don't count out the Cowboys in any round of this tourney.

What about Division I?

Waiakea took the DI BIIF Crown, and draw a bye to await the winner of Saint Louis and Baldwin. Therein lies the first problem. Saint Louis most likely will win, and is one of the top two or three teams in the state. Bar none. Waiakea's pitching is also suspect, as was proven in the BIIF Championship game as they nearly blew a 10 run lead. We know they can hit, but can they pitch and not break down defensively?

Kamehameha-Hawaii gets a first round matchup with Kailua, and that could be a tough assignment, as Kailua was ranked #4 in last week's Star Bulletin Top 10, which I am a voter of. If they get past that, their road looks a little easier, with #4 Maui waiting. We know Kamehameha can hit and score with anyone, but can the rest of their game stay on pace?

I think the best shot to win a championship lies in Division II. DI has talent, but the scheduling may do them in, as I do not think there is any break whatsoever in the schedule. But the less heralded Division II will show an exciting showing from Division II teams that in other years, you wouldn't hear a peep from.

BIIF Baseball Tournament Schedule

I've been alotted one game per day to broadcast to you for the BIIF Baseball Tournament from Wong Stadium, so without further ado, here is our schedule of events.

THURSDAY:

1:30pm - Division One Semifinal: #4 Keaau vs. #1 Waiakea (pre-game at 1 pm)

FRIDAY:

7:00 pm - Division One Championship: Teams TBA (pre-game at 6:30 pm)

SATURDAY:

1:00 pm - Division Two Championship: Teams TBA (pre-game at 12:30 pm)

Some of the pre-game shows may get knocked out due to NBA Playoff coverage, because the games have not been determined yet. Hope you enjoy the coverage!

Oh, and hope you enjoy this baseball play of the day...thank you to href="http://awfulannouncing.blogspot.com"> for putting this up!

The Worst Word in Sports: TIE

I thought we learned our lesson from last year's Hilo / Kamehameha overtime game that ended up in a tie after 9 innings of play. It wasn't a popular decision, especially so close to the playoffs. But I guess not.

If you were listening on Wednesday afternoon, you heard a wacky, wild, and compelling extra innings affair between Kamehameha and Keaau on the Warriors home field. We saw 8 errors, 3 Cougars caught between the basepaths, batters hitting out of order, and an untimely rain delay. This game went to the top half of the 8th inning, and with one on and two out, the rain came down hard enough for the umpires to delay the game. That's where the chaos began.

The rain wasn't showing any signs of letting up, and both umpires met with both head coaches and decided to call the game. That's when I expected to hear that they would suspend the game and finish it either the next day. As I was wrapping up the broadcast, I was told that the coaches and umpires met and that they would play the game over again. But then, the law was set in stone for us.

After I got off the air, BIIF Executive Director Ken Yamase hurried to the field, met with both athletic directors and both head coaches, and made a different decision based on the letter of the law in the league. Here's how he described it to me after the fact (and I'm paraphrasing):

1: The game is called a tie. 7-7 is the final score.

2: Both teams remain with the same record, and if both win on Saturday, they will be tied going into the playoffs.

3: BIIF rules state that a playoff game is only called to decide the top seed / regular season champion in a respective division.

4: Because Keaau and Kamehameha are both tied for 3rd place, a playoff game cannot be played to decide who would be the higher seed, in the event that both take care of business on Saturday.

5: The next option to determine a tie is by head-to-head results. Since they only played once, and it ended in a tie, nothing remains decided (still following me?)

6: The last option to resolve a tie is by coin flip. Both teams defered to having the coin flip after Saturday's games, as long as both teams win or both teams list on Saturday. Both schools athletic directors will be summoned by Mr. Yamase either at his office or at an undisclosed location to flip the coin and determine who will be the 3 seed and who will be the 4.

Hope you caught all of that....why is this so important? The 4th seed would end up playing Waiakea. Waiakea beat Kamehameha by 2 to open the season, and Waiakea beat Keaau by 2 in 10 innings. The 3rd seed would end up playing Hilo, the 2 seed. Keaau beat Hilo earlier in the season, and Kamehameha lost to Hilo by 2 in a game we broadcast a few weeks ago.

What would I do? I would go back another day and finish the game....these players worked so hard and went into extra innings and to call it a tie is such a shame. No one likes to lose, every one loves to win, but all sides never play for a tie.


PS. For those of you listening to Wednesday's edition of the Josh Pacheco show, I said I would put up the clip of the Denver Nuggets coaching staff's intresting pre-game "moshing"...check this out: