Changes abound for new season
Pitch-count limits, new classifications, different scheduling should make for a wild 2017
The 2016 prep baseball season will undoubtedly go down as an enigma.
The five Yuma Union High School District teams — Yuma High, Kofa, Gila Ridge, Cibola and San Luis — were in Division III, the state’s third-highest, for a year.
All five made the playoffs; two had losing records. Three teams reached the state quarterfinals. And one, San Luis, was one run away from winning the state championship.
San Luis, Kofa and Cibola will now all compete in 6A, the state’s top conference, in the Southern Region.
Larsen Jones, who is taking over for long-time Raiders coach Duane Evans, likes the challenge of shifting back toward the top division, where his Cibola teams were when he was a player in the early 2000s.
“It’s one of those things as a coach, if you’ve got close to 3,000 kids in your school and you’re competing for a 4A title, you have to look around at those other coaches and say, ‘We won, but we have 3,000 kids at our school,’” Jones said.
Gila Ridge and Yuma High join Buckeye Union, Youngker and Estrella Foothills in 4A Southwest.
None of this is new for these schools. The Arizona Interscholastic Association’s realignment — based on enrollment — for this school year has already impacted the fall and winter sports.
However, baseball may be the one sport in which a more dramatic shift is occurring for two reasons: Pitchcount limits and scheduling.
The AIA’s legislative council voted on pitch-count limits in March 2016, and adopted the new rule with a 37-1 vote.
It was met with mixed reaction from the Yuma area’s coaches after the ruling. But now, as the season begins, the new rule is making for intrigue, potential strategy and many unknowns.
“You’re going to have to rely on your depth and the whole team,” Kofa coach