Georgia high school softball playoff format overhaul ready to roll out

With the final week of the 2022 high school softball regular season commencing in Georgia, there are still plenty of games with post-season implications throughout the state.

This year, however, the mad scramble for postseason berths and seeds will have a very different look to it than in previous years in some very noticeable ways.

For one thing, there will be no postseason region tournaments that most of the local Georgia High School Association teams and regions have become accustomed to.

That development is directly related to a major change in the GHSA’s postseason format leading up to the eight-team state tournaments in each classification, which will remain intact in its traditional location at the South Commons Softball Complex in Columbus from Oct. 27-29.

Instead of the usual two rounds of best-of-three playoff series to determine the eight state tournament teams in each class, there will be eight separate double-elimination “Super Regional” tournaments that will be hosted by region champions played from Oct. 18-21.

According to the softball portion of the Georgia Dugout Club’s website, the change, which will stay in place for at least this year and next, was necessary due to a continuing shortage of umpires qualified to officiate state-wide and to make sure that all state postseason games will have three umpires per game, instead of the two that had become common in early-round playoff series.

The change will definitely alter how teams approach the postseason, and especially the home stretch of the regular season.

However, many coaches feel there’s no real alternative but to take a wait and see approach before offering opinions on the new format, mainly because there are so many unknowns surrounding it and exactly how it will work.

“That’s a great question because for us, our region’s wrapped up,” said North Gwinnett coach Amanda Heil, whose Bulldogs (23-6 heading into their regular season finale at North Forsyth on Tuesday) are defending Class 7A state champs, and have already wrapped up the Region 7-7A title and will host one of their classification’s Super Regionals. “So, I don’t know because as long as I’ve been head coach at North Gwinnett, all we’ve ever done is the best two-out-of-three (in the opening two rounds). So guessing at what the Super Regional is going to look like, it’s hard to say because as long as I’ve been at North Gwinnett, we’ve never had this type of format.”

Indeed, it has been more than a decade since the GHSA scrapped a similar format to what is being used now to go to the best-of-three playoff format for the first two rounds.

At that time, there were only four preliminary tournaments before the state Elite Eight instead of eight, and there were a couple of other major differences.

For one thing, those tournaments were called “sectional tournaments” instead of Super Regionals.

Also,the top two finishers would eventually advance to the Elite Eight in Columbus instead of the winner-take-all format for each of the eight Super Regionals that will begin next week.

And there are coaches who agree with Heil’s assessment that there will probably be more pros and cons to the new set-up.

“(The Super Regional) kind of puts a couple of rounds all together in the first round,” said North Hall coach Ryan Hill, whose Trojans (14-10) entered the final week of the regular season in a three way tie for third in Region 8-4A with Cherokee Bluff and Madison County. Only two of those teams will qualify for a Super Regional. “I think it’s more of a wait and see (situation) right now. … If you lose (in the first round of the Super Regional), you’ve got to win more than just the next two (to advance). So you’re preparing for a bunch of games rather than just a best two out of three.”

From the perspective of Cherokee Bluff coach Josh Joiner, whose Bears (11-13) enter Tuesday’s game against East Hall also among those in that tense three-way race for two Super Regional berths in Region 8-4A, the new format adds something refreshing to the postseason, but it also takes something away, particularly in such a tough region like the one his team plays in.

“What’s so unfortunate the way things are (currently) set up (is that) we’ve got so many really good teams in our region,” Joiner said. “I was at Peachtree Ridge (a few years ago), … and my first year there, we were the fifth seed (in Region 6-7A, and we got (an) at-large bid (in the 7A playoffs) and we ended up going to the Final Four. … So, I kind of feel like that hurts a region like ours where there are so many good teams battling for four spots.

“There are (a lot of pros and cons). Personally, I don’t mind the change. It gives us a little more time to practice. It stretches our season out a week, so there’s a little bit of relief there. And also, it kind of eliminates the one (tough pitcher) mowing everybody down (in two games) throughout the whole playoffs. But at the same time, I do kind of like the idea of getting to experience different places, getting to travel two different times throughout the process of the playoffs.”

Heil thinks the biggest difference of the new format is not necessarily the effect of one dominant pitcher, but about teams having to face different pitchers in a much shorter time period than the previous playoff format allowed.

“I think for a lot of high school teams, minus a couple, most … are riding one pitcher,” said Heil, who has a dominant pitcher to lean on in senior left-hander and Jacksonville (Ala.) State commit Amber Reed. “You’re not going to get into an elimination game and have multiple kids that can throw. But yeah, the format, to an extent, you’ve always had to play two games on the first day.

“Now, you’re just having to play two different opponents. You used to have to prep for one opponent (per round). Now you’re having to prep for three opponents.”

There is one thing about the new format that Heil knows will play to North Gwinnett’s advantage, and it’s the same thing that the Bulldogs have had whenever they won their region in past years in the playoff format.

“We get to host, and we get to set the schedule (for the Super Regional tournament),” Heil said. “Definitely, hosting is a big advantage.”