The Regular High School Baseball Season is stuffed into 6 short, usually cold, wet, and windy, weeks, from the last week in March until May reaches a double digit number....seems I just got back from Moab, Utah, and here I am getting ready to do post season assignments already...the time has flown by, and now we will once again{those of us lucky enough to do post season} wait and see what Mother Nature will throw at us...the beginning of tournaments, this Saturday already has 'weather issues' in the forecast.
Saturday May 9th...
All six of my tournament games that I am scheduled to do are with Mr Bob G....two of those, as we face a 80% chance of rain are this Saturday. The Northwest District of Ohio is now in charge of selecting all Sectional and District Umpires, and have paired Bob and I, both from Celina, up for the first 3 games, and with Ed O from St Marys for the District at Coldwater....by plan or not, we kick off the tournament with 2 teams from the MAC, Midwest Athletic Conference, at Delphos St. Johns we have them playing league rival, New Bremen....on paper, the two look pretty even, and in fact they{as luck would have it} play each other Friday at NB, just hours before they are scheduled to meet again....Celina and Shawnee are basically facing the same situation in the WBL, the Bulldogs beat Lima Shawnee 6-5 on Tuesday to gain a share of the WBL Title, and now will likely fact the Indians again next week in the Division 2 Tournament.I should mention that Bob and I have all six of our games in the Sectional and District that will end up in Coldwater...all of our games are D4 and the first 3 feed into Coldwater on May 20th and 23rd, which we will do those 3 District games with Ed O....
Anyway once we finish up at St Johns, we take a few hours off and then end up in southern Mercer County at Maria Stein Marion Local, for another game featuring 2 MAC teasm...the host Flyers vs New Knoxville...another game which should be competitive....but you never know....once again, the forecast doesn't look good...we will find out Saturday.
Wednesday May 13th...
Bob and I head to southwestern Mercer County, and Fort Recovery, located on the Indiana/Ohio State Line, some 20 miles from Celina...there at 5pm we take on top seeded and #1 ranked FR Indians as they host the winner of the Waynesfield-Lincolnview game, which takes place on Saturday at Middle Point Lincolnview....the hosts started out 17-0 but have stumbled a bit and now set at 19-2 and must play St Henry for a share of the MAC Title tomorrow night....they do get a by, in the tournament and this should keep their pitching in order for both the league match and the Sectional Title Game on Wednesday.The D4 District at Coldwater...May 20th and 23rd...
This District usually produces a state final 4 and often a small school state title...that was the case when Ed, Bob, and I, worked this District 3 season ago, when Minster squeaked out a title, then when on to win the State D4 Title for the second straight year....the top 4 seeds in the District are Fort Recovery, Minster, Crestview{state runners up out of this District a year ago} and Spencerville. Will those four teams make it to Coldwater? Who Knows, that is why they play the games, and why every team in the State makes the Tournament.....
Rain go away....Play Ball!
Back Later to tell you how it all went......
