Efforts to expand Washington high school baseball season failed. 'We heard every reason under the sun'
When high school athletic administrators in Southwest Washington started to receive support for a 20-team spring break baseball tournament pitting the top schools in the Portland metro area and the top schools in the greater Vancouver area, they ran into a speed bump.
Teams in Washington wanted to play, but didn't have enough room in their non-league schedules.
Heritage High School athletic director Jason Castro heard from tournament organizers in California and Arizona that fewer and fewer Washington teams were traveling out of state during the high school season.
That's why administrators from Heritage, Battle Ground Evergreen, Mountain View, Prairie and Union High Schools submitted an amendment to the WIAA Representative Assembly to increase the number of baseball and softball games allowed in a season from 24, which is shorter than Oregon (26) and California (28).
The change proposed allowed non-league double-headers to count as just one game, while allowing for more games. Under the proposal, teams had the option but were not required to add games.
The amendment failed by a wide margin to reach the required 60 percent approval from the Representative Assembly, the WIAA announced Monday. It received two votes in favor and 33 against — one of two of the six total proposed amendments that didn't pass in the 2021-22 voting cycle.
"I think the goal was good," Castro said. "We heard every reason under the sun why it wouldn’t work."
It's the latest failed attempt for a sport (or sports) to become the first to expand the season schedule since volleyball passed an amendment in 2020 increasing the number of matches from 16 to 18.
A year after the same proposal missed by one vote, a proposed amendment allowing boys and girls basketball teams to count a multiple-game tournament as just one of their 20 allowed games failed by a wider margin.
Castro is in the process of bringing the Southwest Washington versus Portland-area tournament to Vancouver and the new turf facilities in the Evergreen Public Schools. Tournament organizers in Arizona and California he talked to as a part of his research noted that while they saw a steady flow of teams from Oregon and Idaho traveling for non-league tournaments each. year, Washington teams largely stopped coming seven or eight years ago.
"We feel like we play pretty good baseball in the Northwest and don’t get to showcase our top-end talent," Castro said.
Since the amendment failed, the event can still go on with each team playing one game. Ten Washington teams and four Oregon teams are locked in for 2023.
He heard arguments against the proposed amendment that argued it added "ambiguity" that could further drive a wedge in schedule imbalance brought on by inequities in quality of facilities and weather-related delays and didn't like idea of some teams playing, say, 20 games and others playing more than 24.
The official amendment summary also cited concern that the amendment would add more work for athletic directors and coaches.
Castro hopes the introduction of the amendment inspires athletic directors from another part of the state to try to address the feedback and re-write and present a similar amendment in the future.
"It just wasn't presented well enough, I guess," Castro said. "Bottom line is the need is there, kids deserve to play ... and we'd love to give more opportunities to kids."
The Representative Assembly is made up of 35 high school and 18 middle school administrators from each of the WIAA's nine districts. In total, 21 votes are requires in order for an amendment to pass.
Which amendments passed?
- AMENDMENT NO. 1 (passed, 40-13): The WIAA state map will shrink from nine to six districts by consolidating the three eastern Washington districts — Districts 6, 7 and 8. The east region will maintain its same number of WIAA Executive Board seats. The amendment goes into effect in the 2024-25 school year.
- AMENDMENT NO. 2 (passed, 50-2): WIAA Representative Assembly members no longer have the option of voting "no position," citing a desire from member schools to know definitive results on proposed changes and concerns around the optics that a "no position" vote can be perceived as a "no."
- AMENDMENT NO. 4 (passed, 52-1): Students can retain the full number of practices previously completed after returning from an extended absence, allowing athletes a quicker return to play. When the rule requiring athletes to log a certain number of practices before becoming eligible to return was waived during the COVID-19-condensed 2021 seasons with support from the Medical Aspects of Sports Committee, there were no reports of increased injuries.
- AMENDMENT NO. 5 (passed, 34-19): Students' academic standing at the end of one school year can effect their eligibility in the next — but the punishment has been lightened in hopes to increase participation. A student that fails to meet grade requirements during the second or third trimesters of a school year will be placed on academic probation at the start of the fall sports season. Authors of the amendment argued the change makes academic punishments equitable across the sport seasons and that many fall athletes would rather quit than serve a five-week suspension.
Which failed?
More WIAA Representative Assembly coverage:
New WIAA rule allows for much better flexibility in Washington high school volleyball scheduling (2020)
30-second shot clock approved for Washington high school boys basketball for 2020-2021 season
