3A league playoffs changing look

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Thursday, April 23, 2009 | midnight

The 3A Southern League baseball and softball playoffs will look drastically different this spring.

Instead of the longstanding double-elimination tournaments that some coaches say are best suited for recreation softball, each round of tournament will be decided with a best-of-three games series.

"That is how baseball was meant to be played," said Boulder City High coach Bill Strachan, who proposed the idea. "This is how it was back in the 1980s. We didn't do the slow-pitch softball, double elimination thing."

The idea was proposed at a meeting of 3A athletic directors in the fall and passed at another meeting two months ago. All of the league's four schools voted for the change — a requirement to make the switch.

The league's top two finishers in the regular season will host a series. This year, with the state tournament being hosted in Southern Nevada, the winner of the first round series will earn a berth to state. It is also the same format the 3A Northern League has used for years.

"This way you get something for winning the league," Boulder City Athletic Director Regina Quintero said. "It gives you an advantage if you are one of the teams who gets stay home and play."

The team with most depth in its pitching staff will have the best chance to win, Strachan said. Boulder City has struggled most of this spring, but Strachan still likes his prospects in a three-game series with senior starters Adam Eudy, Cole Stubitz and Shane Levin.

"Even if we finished fourth, I would put those three up against any of the others," Strachan said.

The strategy with organizing your pitching rotation isn't as prevalent in softball. Unlike baseball pitchers who throw overhand and are limited by pitch counts, a softball team's ace could pitch every inning in a three-game series.

"To play at home will be the biggest advantage for us," Reid said.

Once approved by athletic directors, the change was sent to the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association for the final approval.

Putting the association's stamp on the change was a formality, said Donnie Nelson, the association's assistant director.

"It's good that two leagues in the same classification will be using the same format," Nelson said.

Ray Brewer can be reached at 990-2662 or [email protected].