Super districts present new challenge for area teams

The super district format has been used in a handful of high school sports this school year, and now baseball is added to the list.

Northeast Ohio baseball will join the majority of the rest of the state in having the super district format for postseason play. Schools in Northeast Ohio have been separated into two subgroups of east and west.

Coaches were asked to rank teams from their assigned pools, top to bottom. Reaction from coaches, a lot like the other sports that have introduced the super district concept, has been mixed.

“I have mixed thoughts on the super districts. Part of me likes the options and likes the fact that each team has more choices and isn’t locked into a specific area,” said Chagrin Falls coach Michael Sweeney. “It gives a district that has two or three outstanding teams a chance to spread out and maybe play each other in the regional instead of the district. On the other hand, the old way was definitely easier to know the other teams.”

Another challenge was seeding teams. With multiple teams using different places for their results and stats, that threw another wrench into things for coaches.

Kirtland coach Luke Smrdel said familiarity was an issue in the Division III West portion of the brackets, where he had to help seed 24 teams.

“It is nearly impossible to seed this many teams,” said Smrdel. “There are teams in our west districts that I have never heard of, I know nothing about, and I don’t even know what county they are in. I spent hours trying to find out information about other teams, but for some of them it’s almost impossible.”

One of the incentives of the super-district format, is that the higher seeded a team is, they get to pick where they want to be in a bracket first. For the sectional round, the higherseeded team will play host for the games, while the district semifinals and finals will take place at assigned fields.

This allows for those teams to virtually pick their own paths through the tournament. Hawken coach

Aaron Brandt said it avoids excess travel.

“The biggest challenge that we could have faced was travel, especially if we had been a lower-seeded team,” said Brandt. “I think a lot of teams choose their spot on the bracket to reduce travel, thereby creating matchups in the first couple of rounds that would have occurred in the old system anyways. There are a few teams that get stuck having to travel 1 ½ hours to another team’s site to play a second round game.”

Division I

Both Kenston and Mentor have byes into their sectional finals for the Hudson District, while Mayfield also has a bye into the sectional final in the Canton District. South also is in a sectional final for the Canton District,

and already knows it will be taking on Alliance. The Euclid District sees five area teams in play, led by North, which received a bye into the sectional final.

Division II

Both Chagrin Falls and Chardon received byes to the sectional finals in the Twinsburg and Louisville Districts, respectively. University takes on Bay in a sectional final matchup in the North Ridgeville District, a bracket that also features Benedictine. Perry takes on Geneva in an allarea clash in the Struthers District, with West Geauga on the opposite side of the same bracket. The lone team in the Richfield District is Beachwood.

Division III

Kirtland is by itself in the Creston District, with a bye to the sectional final. Both Cardinal and Berkshire are in the Struthers District, and if the Huskies defeat Youngstown Liberty, they will take on the Badgers for the third time this season. The remaining four area teams are all in the Copley District. Hawken and Gilmour have byes into the sectional finals, while VASJ will host Brooklyn and Wickliffe plays host to Trinity. The winner will advance to play Hawken in a CVC battle regardless of who wins.

Division IV

Both Andrews Osborne and Cornerstone Christian are in the Medina District. Fairport is the only area team in the Struthers District, and has a bye into the sectional finals.