South Rowan American Legion

http://www.salisburypost.com/sports/283617180980452.php

The American Legion baseball playoffs begin tonight, and South Rowan is currently out the mix.

Officials awarded Wilkes County, not South, the eighth seed from the Southern Division of Area III. The two teams tied for eighth, but a three-way tie for second created complicated tiebreakers that required consultation with state chairman Roy Waters.

"The breaking of the ties has been very difficult, and the state baseball chairman has concurred with the way ties have been broken," supervisor of umpires Mike Thompson wrote in an e-mail.

Wilkes is scheduled to face division champion Rowan County tonight at Newman Park to the chagrin of South officials, who have filed a grievance claiming that their team deserves the eighth seed. If that's not clear-cut, they would be open to playing a best-of-three series against Wilkes, with the winner advancing to a matchup with Rowan.

"It is our hope that the state commissioner will override this decision and place South Rowan in the eighth position in the final standings in order to follow the rules presented to all teams during the spring meeting," athletic officer Mike Fisher and assistant athletic officer Ernie Faw co-wrote in the grievance.

Area III's procedure for breaking ties is as follows:

No. 1: head-to-head record

No. 2: record against a higher seed

No. 3: runs allowed during the regular season

No. 4: coin toss

South and Wilkes split during the regular season, so the second tiebreaker went into effect. Both teams were swept by Rowan, so the records against the division's No. 2 seed became meaningful.

That's where the debate heats up.

Kannapolis, Mocksville and Stanly tied for second place. Mocksville split with the two other squads, but Kannapolis swept Stanly.

South supporters argued that, based on records among the three, Kannapolis (3-1) should have been seeded second, Mocksville (2-2) third and Stanly (1-3) fourth.

The rule was interpreted differently by Area III commissioner Bob Beeson, who is from Wilkesboro.

He argued that Kannapolis should get the No. 2 seed because of its record against Mocksville and Stanly, then the head-to-head tiebreaking procedure should be used to separate the two remaining teams.

Because Mocksville and Stanly split, their records against Rowan County would determine which team received the No. 3 seed.

Mocksville split with Rowan, but Stanly swept the division champs.

In order to reach the postseason, South needed Mocksville to finish ahead of Stanly. South split with Mocksville but was swept by Stanly. Wilkes split with Stanly, meaning South is in line to miss the playoffs for the first time since 1999.

Faw said he spoke to Waters on Friday and faxed a copy of the grievance to Waters and his assistant, Bill Murray. The grievance includes the argument that the head-to-head tiebreaker was not interpreted accurately.

Faw requested that the committee meet this morning to resolve the issue. If the ruling favored his program, Faw said he would be fine with South replacing Wilkes as the No. 8 seed or South and Wilkes staging a series that would include two games today in Wilkesboro and a third Sunday in Landis.

 

Does this mess surprise anyone, coming on the heels of the mess from last season?

What is the tiebreaker rule involving more than two teams? Everyone agrees that Kannopolis won the tiebreaker, but what happens after that? Do you go with record within the group, or do you go head to head? I couldn't care less either way, but what do the rules say? Are these state rules, or are they agreed upon at area meetings, or is it dependent on how the commissioner feels when he eats his breakfast?

Legion baseball at its finest.

 

The Commissioners Explanation


Salisbury Post reporter Bret Strelow spoke with Area III commissioner Bob Beeson before Rowan County played Wilkes on Sunday night.

The tiebreaking procedure that allowed Wilkes to earn the Southern Division's No. 8 seed over South Rowan is a hot topic among area baseball fans. A three-way tie for second place between Kannapolis, Stanly and Mocksville impacted which squad in the nine-team division missed the playoffs. Stanly was seeded ahead of Mocksville, so Wilkes (split with Stanly) was seeded ahead of South (swept by Stanly).

Beeson, who is from Wilkesboro, explained the process last night.

He also said the same tiebreaking procedure won't be used in the future when the extension of one team's season is at stake. If two teams tie for the eighth and final playoff spot, an extra game will be held to determine who reaches the postseason and who packs away their gear for the summer.

*

Salisbury Post: How did you interpret the head-to-head tiebreaking method?

Beeson: "Three teams tied. To my knowledge, over the last 10 years, that's never happened before. There was no precedent set.

"In turn, it was my feeling, once the second-place team (Kannapolis) was decided, I felt that they should be taken out of the mix totally. What either one of a third- or a fourth-place team did against that team, not the No. 1 seed, should not have a bearing on breaking the tie between those two."

*

Post: Should you have separated yourself from the decision-making process based on your ties to Wilkes?

Beeson: "In a way, I did. I called the state chairman (Roy Waters) and got his input before the decision was ever put out. He said, in essence, that as long as the established procedure we had for tiebreakers was followed, that was it. And it was.

"(South) appealed it. The appeal was denied by the state committee. I feel that it's a dead issue. A justifiable decision was made, and it was upheld by the state commission, of which I did not participate."

*

Post: Will three-way ties be broken the same way in the future?

Beeson: "We'll decide the same way. However, I took steps at a meeting (Saturday) morning to insure that this situation never arises again. Instead of having one-, two-, three-word descriptions on ways to break ties, I have tried to form a committee with representatives from both the Northern conference and the Southern conference to come together and to re-write the whole tiebreaking policy.

"South Rowan was invited to be a member of that, and the last I heard, they refused to be a participant. My question is, if they refuse to be a participant, by not trying to improve the situation, they're happy with the status quo as it is. There's a lot of areas that need improvement.

"Each and every team needs to have their ideas and inputs heard in an open discussion to determine policies and procedures."

Intimidator Coach" :What has happened is over , we cant start all over but at least it looks like there may be some changes made or at least there wont be 2 or 3 different interpretations made of the rule.. "

 

The bad thing is...baseball is a game involving kids. It's supposed to be fun & decided on the field. Commissioners & rules committees should not be robbing the fun by parsing words. The spirit of the game was wounded. Sad.

 

They should have justed played it off on the field and everybody would have been happier and it would have been fairer.