Changes to basketball sections are minimal
The WPIAL recently released its basketball section alignments for the next two seasons. There was much talk and anticipation about the WPIAL trying to group many of the private schools together but that didn’t happen.
There are only small changes in the section alignments, most of them caused by schools moving up or down in classification.
At today’s price of $5 per gallon of gas, it’s better to keep sections based on geography rather than private/public school agendas.
The most significant change for local boys basketball is in Class 5A. Trinity will no longer play in a section with powerhouse New Castle, and Peters Township has dropped from Class 6A.
The new Class 5A Section 1 will include Bethel Park, Connellsville, Peters Township, Ringgold, Thomas Jefferson and Trinity.
Washington will still play in Class 3A Section 4, which has lost Brentwood and Beth-Center while adding Mt. Pleasant and Yough.
In Class 2A, Sections 2 and 4 have basically merged to form a seven-team conference that includes Bentworth, Beth-Center, Burgettstown, Chartiers-Houston and Fort Cherry from Washington County, Carmichaels in Greene County and Frazier in Fayette County.
California and Jefferson-Morgan have dropped to Class A and will play in Section 2, which lost defending state champion Bishop Canevin and Propel Montour.
In girls basketball, Trinity and defending WPIAL champion South Fayette, two teams that should be very good again next season, will be in the same Class 5A section. The Hillers and Lions will be joined by Lincoln Park, Montour, Moon and West Allegheny. Moon went 2-16 a year ago and Montour won 16 games in Class 4A.
The Ringgold girls will drop to Class 4A and play in the same section as Belle Vernon.
In Class 2A, Chartiers-Houston has been moved out of Section 2 and into Section 4, along with Bentworth, Beth-Center, California, Carmichaels, Frazier and Washington. Bentworth and Washington both dropped from Class 3A.
- Baseball Quiz I: Is it possible for a pitcher to throw a perfect game and still lose the game? Answer later in this column.
- When was the last time you turned on a game to do something other than watch it?
Never? Same here.
Yet that reality has been totally lost among TV and radio people, who seem to want non-stop talking about anything but what’s unfolding on the field of play. And when the broadcasters do mention what happening in the game, they seem to think yelling is the best approach.
I’m convinced that Vin Scully would never make it as a broadcaster these days because he doesn’t yell enough or rely on gimmicky sayings or home-run calls.
Baseball Quiz II: What is the most hits a baseball team can have in one inning without scoring a run?
- Houston starter Luis Garcia and reliever Phil Maton each threw a rare immaculate inning – nine pitches, three strikeouts – in the Astros’ win Wednesday over Texas.
The three batters Maton struck out in the seventh inning were the only batters he faced in the game.
The unrelenting advancement of analytics is the current rage in sports. But if analytics calls for the removal of relief pitchers who just struck out the side on nine pitches, I’d throw the Analytics Guide Book into a fire pit.
Baseball quiz answers: The answer to Quiz I is yes. Here’s how: Pitcher throws a regulation nine innings (or seven in minor leagues and high school) without allowing a baserunner but the score is tied 0-0. The game goes to the new tiebreaker procedure with a runner starting the next inning at second base with no outs. The pitcher gets two groundouts or deep flyouts and the runner moves up a base on each, scoring on the second out. The pitcher would retire each batter he faced but lose 1-0.
That’s enough to tell you the tiebreaker rule is stupid.
Answer to Quiz II: A team can have six hits in an innings without scoring a run. It would require three singles along with three batted balls striking a baserunner, which results in the runner being called out and the batter getting credit for a single.