2019 State Finals on Mon/Tues June 17-18

[slice60]

Just spotted this today on the IHSAA site. Looks like the Indians have a homestand through June 16 so the HS State Finals are getting bumped to Monday & Tuesday. No gametimes are listed yet.

I wonder if the IHSAA dropped the ball or if MiLB ignored the Indians' request for a homestand even if they made a request to be on the road to accommodate the HS Finals.

Does anybody have some insight?

[Trojan88]

Baseball starts next week (try outs) with season right after - thoughts on key teams and players to keep an eye on this season????

 

[slice60]

Twilight DH both nights -- 5:30 & 8:30. Should be fun.

[tango]

On 5/11/2019 at 12:30 PM, slice60 said:

Twilight DH both nights -- 5:30 & 8:30. Should be fun.

Unless of course you live in any part of the state that requires driving more than an hour or so to Indy and you have to work the next day...  I would have preferred the IHSAA to use another facility on the weekend and skip Victory Field this time around.  I think it will really impact attendance unless the participants are all from the Indy donut..

[slice60]

Big time props to the grounds crew & top notch facilities at Victory Field. Even with all the rain lately,  the field was in great shape tonight for the 1A & 4A title games.

4A was a great, compelling game with gutsy pitching, many defensive highlight plays & some clutch 2-out hitting. It stinks that a great championship game ended with 2 errors but it happens. 

[Screagle]

Epic fail by all those involved in moving games to Monday and Tuesday.   Felt more like a late midweek legion game instead of a state championship game. 

Edited June 19, 2019 by Screagle

[slice60]

8 hours ago, Screagle said:

Epic fail by all those involved in moving games to Monday and Tuesday.   Felt more like a late midweek legion game instead of a state championship game. 

I tend to criticize the IHSAA often but not in this case. I was there for every pitch of all 4 games & honestly didn't notice any difference in intensity or fan support. (I haven't compared attendance to typical numbers.) At times, the crowds were quiet but that could be due to some of the dominant pitching performances.

If you want to point a finger at somebody, blame the International League. As they always do, the Indians asked to be on the road this past weekend but the League gave them a homestand this past weekend instead.

Besides, Indy got 3.5 inches of rain along with some nasty storms on Saturday so it's likely that 2 or 3 Saturday games would have been moved to Monday anyway.

Not sure how you can complain about watching THREE walk-off wins with some wacky plays in the 7th. And the 2A finale was as heartbreaking as you can get. 

[tango]

1 hour ago, slice60 said:

And the 2A finale was as heartbreaking as you can get. 

Yes it was an absolutely brutal way to lose for Southridge - 3 critical mistakes - E on throw to 1st after dropped 3rd strike on what would have been the final out, CF missing cut-off on hit that tied the game, then the miscommunication on the pop up to shallow LF.  

Per IHSAA website, 2 day attendance was down by a little over 400 from 2018, which isn't that big of an issue I suppose...

[slice60]

22 hours ago, tango said:

Yes it was an absolutely brutal way to lose for Southridge - 3 critical mistakes - E on throw to 1st after dropped 3rd strike on what would have been the final out, CF missing cut-off on hit that tied the game, then the miscommunication on the pop up to shallow LF.  

Per IHSAA website, 2 day attendance was down by a little over 400 from 2018, which isn't that big of an issue I suppose...

And that was a line-drive one-hopper to the Centerfielder so, if his throw was accurate, he may have nailed the runner at home to end the game.

[slice60]

We were totally neutral but sitting on the Southridge side. It was like seeing a terrible car crash. I couldn't even look any of their fans in the eye as they dejectedly left the ballpark. Can't imagine how bad the kids felt.

This is a great article & the Head Coach is clearly a fantastic teacher & mentor. 

https://www.courierpress.com/story/sports/high-school/2019/06/18/southridges-state-title-dreams-slip-away-alexandria-wins-2-a/1494886001/

 

[Basementbias]

It was definitely a cruel fate that Southridge suffered. Props to Alexandria-Monroe for playing through everything and just doing what they're supposed to do. With the Tigers win, it was a cool happening for my stepdaughters' friend's family. Their friend attends school in Ohio were the team won the D4 basketball championship and her older half brother attends Alexandria-Monroe who are now 2A baseball champions.

[slice60]

On 6/19/2019 at 1:36 AM, Screagle said:

Epic fail by all those involved in moving games to Monday and Tuesday.   Felt more like a late midweek legion game instead of a state championship game. 

From the 8/28/2019 IHSAA Meeting Minutes:

In the baseball state finals at Victory Field, the Indianapolis Indians have expressed strong interest in continuing the format that was used for the first time in June by playing two state championship games on Friday followed by two more championships on Saturday.

For the softball state finals at Bittinger Stadium in West Lafayette, the Purdue University administration is agreeable to the idea of playing two state championship games on Friday and two more on Saturday beginning next June instead of playing all four games in a single day.