TACOMA — Get ready for a full day of softball.
Rain wiped out the entire schedule of the 4A and 3A state softball tournaments at SERA Fields in Tacoma on Friday, which means, if the weather cooperates today, it will be a busy day for the teams that advance through the brackets.
If all goes well, both the 3A and 4A fields will be whittled from 16 teams to a single champion by tonight, with a few moves made to speed things along. First off, some of the consolation games will be eliminated, meaning there likely won’t be eight teams earning trophies as is usually the case at state.
Additionally, the WIAA will institute speedup guidelines in an attempt to play a full tournament in one day. Among the changes are that there will be less time between games, a reduced number of warmup pitches allowed, and teams will not be allowed to throw the ball around the horn after outs.
On the 4A side, first-round games are at 10 and 11:30 a.m., quarterfinals at 1 and 3 p.m., semifinals at 6 p.m. and the championship game at 8 p.m. Both Marysville-Pilchuck and Jackson begin play at 10, while Stanwood starts its day at 11:30.
The 3A first-round games are at 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m., with the quarterfinals at 3 p.m., semifinals at 6 p.m. and the championship game at 8 p.m. Everett, the lone qualifier from the area, plays Camas at 1 p.m.
“Now you’re looking at your pitcher having to possibly pitch four games in one day, so it changes a lot,” Everett coach Kyle Peacocke said. “If you give up runs early in a game, you’re going to have to use your other pitcher, so it will help to have pitching depth for sure.”
Jackson, which comes into the tournament undefeated, spent the day hanging out at its hotel in Tacoma, and had plans to see a movie.
“We’ll just make the best of it, do some team stuff, go to a movie or something,” Timberwolves coach Mike Moran said. “… Just make sure we’re not getting on each other’s nerves. When you’ve got four girls to a room, it gets kind of crowded.”
Moran said the change won’t alter the way his team prepares, noting that the Timberwolves have pitching depth if it is needed for the potentially long day.
“It’s just a long day,” he said. “I think we have enough pitching to go around if we have to do it that way, I’m not too worried about that. You’ve just got to do what you’ve got to do.”
Should games be rained out again today, the 4A tournament would continue Sunday, while the 3A would move to Monday. In order for games to be played on Sundays, all teams involved must be willing to play, and not all 3A teams signed the form to do so. It is possible, however, if some games are played today and the 3A team or teams that weren’t willing to play Sunday are eliminated, that both the 3A and 4A tournaments could be moved to Sunday.
Of course everyone involved hopes that further contingency plans won’t be necessary.
“We hope to start it at 10, and have a busy day of softball,” said John Miller of the WIAA.
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