Class B will have a different look this year. After the November State Board meeting Class B was down to 36 teams. Now there are only 34 teams (Hamel dropped and Apple Valley is not having a team).
Representatives of the B teams met in Bloomington in January and started preliminary discussions about what they could do to improve Class B baseball. That was followed by a meeting in Minnetonka where goals were set and changes to the sections and State Tournament were proposed. The message that was carried to the State Board at their March meeting was that B wanted the Sections to remain the same, however, B wanted to institute Super Sections and have a two week State Tournament. The Board OKed the plan, but told the B representatives that they would have to come up with a plan to implement all of the changes.
Before the Minnetonka meeting, all B teams were asked if they were interested in hosting a Super Sectional. There were eight teams that said they were interested in hosting. They were Cold Spring and Hutchinson, Miesville and Red Wing, Dundas and Austin, and Chaska and Shakopee. One more meeting was held in Miesville to agree on the format for Super Sections. In attendance were representatives from Hutchinson, Hastings, Miesville, Red Wing, Shakopee, Dundas and State Director Mike Barry. It was decided that for things to work, we need to select the sites early rather than with only a week's notice. Cold Spring, Miesville, Dundas and Chaska were selected as the host sites for the first year. All of these sites have hosted State Tounaments in the past and are within an hour of the Metro area, which were two of the criteria that was recommended at the Minnetonka meeting.
The format will be the same at all four sites. On Friday, August 12 there will be two games. The number one seed will play the number four seed at 6:00 P.M. At 8:30 P.M. the number two seed will play the number three seed. On Saturday, August 13, there will be three games. The losers of games one and two will play at noon. the winners of games one and two will play at 3:00 P.M. and the winner of game three and loser of game four will play at 6:00 P.M. On Sunday, August 14, the championship game will be played at noon with the if necessary game to follow immediately. Two teams will advance to the State Tournament.
After that was decided, there was a long discussion about seeding. Everyone agreed that it was hard to rate other teams when you haven't played them or even seen them play. It was decided to use State Tournament results over the last five years to determine seeds. There were three criteria that were used: 1) top four State Tournament finishes in the last five years (one point each--there are four distinct places that are earned in State Tournament play). 2) Top four State Tournament finishes ((4,3,2,1 points system). 3) Overall State Tournament records (whole section).
Seeds ended up as follows: 1) Section 2 2) Section 1 3) Section 3 4) Section 7 5) Section 4 6) Section 8 7) Section 5 8) Section 6. The eight runners-up were seeded by drawing out of a hat. They are 9) Section 2 10) Section 4 11) Section 8 12) Section 7 13) Section 3 14) Section 1 15) Section 6 16) Section 5.
The top four teams will be seeded in different Super Sections in order of ranking. The top seed will pick first and select its site preference, followed by the second seed and its preference, followed by the third seed and its preference. The fourth seed will be placed in the remaining Super Section site. Here is how the sites will shake out: Site A) 1vs 16, 8 vs 9. Site B) 2 vs 15, 7 vs 10. Site C) 3 vs 4, 6 vs 11. Site D) 4 vs 13, 5 vs 12. There could be slight changes to keep two section teams from being in the same Super Section.
The four host sites are not guaranteed a team in the Super Section. They will play at their home site, however, if they qualify for a Super Section.
A financing plan was also set up to help all Super Sections and teams come out of this on the profitable side. Each B team will purchase 20 tickets at $5 per ticket ($100). These tickets will be good for any Super Section game. Funds will be collected by the eight Section commissioners and will be used to cover up front expenses and any potential losses which may occur from the Super Section Tournaments. After expenses, all profits and losses from all four Super Section Tournaments will be pooled and distributed back to the 16 participating teams (a mileage factor is also being discussed). Expenses to be paid from the B Super Sections are: umpires, baseballs and marketing costs. Host sites are responsible for all other ballpark and field related costs.
These plans were given general approval by the Board of Directors at their April meeting. There are still some issues to be worked out and the B teams are being polled on these questions. The State Tournament seeding is also being looked at and will be decided upon in the near future.
If you pick your favorites or just pick teams at random and work them according to the seeding, you can see that there will be some great Super Sections and some fun games to see. This will work out to be much better than the first round of the State Tournament being single elimination. If you have suggestions or comments, feel free to send them to me at bnbaseballguy@gmail.com. or send them to Jim Johnson at jim@jds12.com. We will make sure to bring your suggestions and ideas up to the complete B group.
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