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California Dreamin’ before playoff push

Posted by Mike Vlahovich

Feb. 9, 2009 10:03 a.m. • 33 comments

OK. I admit to being remiss in my duties to this blog, but I plead my case. I spent the past five days in California watching my daughter, Linse play softball. Hard to believe it’s her senior year at Central Washington and I vowed to see as many of her games as work allows. Temperature was in the the high 50s and mid 60s. As we were walking into Pedretti Park (in Turlock) in shirt sleeves, the coach from Cal State Stanislaus wondered where we were from. She was headed back home for another layer of clothing. I admit, it was a bit brisk when we flew back into Spokane last night and seeing the snow was a bit disconcerting after a pleasant get away. Incidentally, Linse won two of three on the mound.

<With the trip I missed my first district wrestling tournament in I don’t know how long, but will be back in the saddle for regionals this week at Central Valley and state in Tacoma. Missed a thriller, Mead winning its second straight title by a point. That had to be the closest in district history (I con’t recall any ties). The Titans advance 12, Mead and CV 10 apiece, Ferris 8 and Lewis and Clark 2 against Moses Lake and the CBBN on Saturday. East Valley advances 12, Shadle Park 7, North Central 6, Mt. Spokane 5 and Rogers 2 to Sunnysidey. Deer Park and Riverside on a roll in 2A, are in Ellensburg, Lakeside leads the 1A charge at home, Republic and Reardan in Bs are at Reardan and remain tough.

<My fondest hope was for Greater Spokane League boys basketball to end with seven teams tied at 10-10. That can’t happen, but a six-way tie is still conceivable given this week’s final matchups for a third-place tie behind Gonzaga Prep and Shadle Park. If so, when has that ever happened? (Lewis and Clark and North Central are 10-8, Ferris and Mead 9-9, Central Valley and Rogers 8-10 and Mt. Spokane 7-10). Playoff teams are set for next week’s district 4A and 3A tournaments if final positions aren’t East Valley and University are the odd teams out.

<Lewis and Clark has the girls title wrapped up, but there is still a significant game tomorrow at 5:30 when the unbeaten Tigers travel to second-place Mead (16-2). District play for both boys and girls begins next week. District teams are set for 4A, Ferris eliminated. Either Gonzaga Prep or University plays at LC and CV will be at Mead.

<In other basketball leagues, Great Northern has two weeks remaining, but Northeast A (Freeman boys and girls are a combined 35-1) and the area 1B and 2B leagues (Northwest Christian boys are seeking history) set to begin district.

<Mead wrapped up the GSL gymnastics title last week and hosts regional this weekend at Mead Middle School on Market. The Panthers were two points better than U-Hi as they battle for one team berth. Shadle Park is chasing a 1A-2A-3A state trip.

Caught up.

33 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

eastsidefan on February 09 at 10:26 a.m.
Mike, there is no apology necessary when you are watching your daughter play softball. There is nothing nearly as important going on here as spending time with your family.

I was hoping you could give us a better outline of how districts will work next week for the boys side. You mentioned that 4-5 play a loser out and then the 1 seed plays the lowest and 2 plays 3. What happens after that? Thanks
jimmyball on February 09 at 11:06 a.m.
Eastsidefan,
I would agree, no apologies necessary to watch family. Ooh how I valued those days, enjoy them they go by soo quickly.

The districts are as mentioned with 1vs. 4/5 winner (4/5 game is Feb. 16), 2vs 3. (Feb. 17) Winners of those games play Feb. 19 with the winner of that game going to regional. Losers play a loser out game (Feb 19)and the winner of the loser out game plays the loser of the winners game (still with me!) on Feb. 20 for the second spot at regional (this is 4A). In other words a double elimination tourney. Their opponents from the CBL will be determined by their own district tourney starting later this week. They qualify 6 teams and you can access Columbia Basin League on the web to see how it works.

In 3 A 3 teams advance of 4 teams(East Valley is eliminated) so district tourney eliminates one team (the loser of the game between the first round losers) the others are seeded as to their finish at district.
Wasn’t that easy! I’am in my seventies so that’s it for the day. You guys sure know how to tire a guy!
Al_Loysius on February 09 at 11:07 a.m.
Agreed. Details for District Playoffs have been sketchy. Not to be mean about this, but that seems true for most GSL sports over the last 3-4 years. Info about Regionals (not just in basketball) are even more vague. In the olden days, there was usually a little box in the agate type (that means the ltttle print in the Scoreboard Section for you non-journalism majors) that had the basics:

It is nice to know several days ahead for those that might be interested, instead of just the day before the games.

For District:
-Dates
- Times
- Venues
- How many teams advance to regionals
- Which games are loser-out.
- How does it affect Regional seeding and home court advantage?
- Radio coverage?

For Regionals:

- Are the boys in one locale (i.e. Tri-Cities) and the Girls in another?
- Dates
- Times
- Venues
- How many teams advance to State
- Which games are loser-out?
- Is there still a deal where some teams have to place twice in one day for the last State spot?
- How does it affect where the teams end up in the State bracket?
- Radio Coverage?

Mike, this would be a good job for one of the student interns at the S-R to handle.

Thanks.
Al_Loysius on February 09 at 11:09 a.m.
You beat me by a minute with some of the info.
jimmyball on February 09 at 11:13 a.m.
Al,
You can access the Grater Spokane League and the Columbia Basin League on the web and it will give you the answers to most of your questions (as well as my lengthy explanation above) Girls the same as boys.
eastsidefan on February 09 at 1:23 p.m.
Thanks Jimmy, that helped a lot. I guess the next question is who do you guys think will advance to regionals? I would think GP and Shadle are a favorite in their leagues but who else is capable of winning and does anyone see any upsets in the making?
jimmyball on February 09 at 2:40 p.m.
4A-GPrep/LC to Regional
3A-Shadle/Rogers/NC to Regional
jvwblack on February 09 at 6:09 p.m.
For District brakets go to; http://www.spokaneschools.org/gsl/
Then click on; http://www.spokaneschools.org/gsl/GSLHandbook.pdf and go to page 96 for GSL Boys.
For Regionals go to; http://www.wiaa.com/Dist6/documents/4ARegionalBoysBB.pdf
Hope that helps
jvwblack on February 09 at 6:15 p.m.
http://www.spokaneschools.org/gsl/GSLHandbook.pdf
You can skip the first web address that I put down to get to GSL District Boys Brakets
gslbball on February 09 at 9:21 p.m.
Congrats about your daughter, Mike. Every reason to be proud on your part. Get to as many games as you can.

I’m going out on a ladder here and predicting that GP and Ferris will head to the 4A Regionals. Ferris may be a team for next year, but in the playoffs crazy things can happen. If Ferris can play 4 quarters, they will wreak some havoc.
Al_Loysius on February 09 at 10:59 p.m.
I commend JVWBlack’s link to the GSL handbook for any local HS sports junkie. There are some incredible details in there, including past champions in many sports, various record holders and some minute details about how games are run (e.g. how many minutes before kickoff that the National Anthem must be performed).

Even all sorts of stuff on JV and Frosh sports.

It seems that nothing is random. It even names names as to who in the area is responsible for what details about a sport and its govenrance.
rawkmandale on February 10 at 12:27 a.m.
I’m good with your time off - family first. Now, when you have time: please catch us up on the wrestling regionals. I’m particularly interested on how the 3As do, with powerhouse Sedro Wooley bringing 14, EV and Everett bringing 12, and the host Sunnyside bringing quite a few. If EV is to grab a state crown, getting a goodly number through this tough region is mandatory. How many do you think it will take? What challenges does Enumclaw (the favorite) have in its region? Is Yelm the other big challenger? How about Kelso or others in the SW?

Mike, the readers need to know!
Cavebear on February 10 at 6:43 a.m.
Always have been a bit grumpy about how the playoffs are run when it comes to the dates and times for the boys and girls’ games. This year, if you’re a parent, and have a player on the court for a particular school on both the boys and girls team, you’ll have to decide which one won’t have parental support. In the past, times were staggered so you might be able to catch one playing at one site and still have the chance to make a game at another school to watch the other sibling play. Not so this year, with the teams playing at different sites at the same time. I would hope in the future, the league would schedule the boys on one night and the girls on another. It sure would make it easier for parents, and fans, to follow a school when they have both teams qualifying for the playoffs.
Cavebear on February 10 at 6:54 a.m.
Oops. I do see the girls are playing at 5:30, and the guys at 7:15pm on game nights. So, at least the game times are staggered. Still doesn’t leave much time for a possible dash across town. I do hope to see the guys and gals playing on different nights next year.
4theFuture on February 11 at 7:11 a.m.
How are they going to break the ties? There could be a 4 way tie at 10-10 for second through 5 place in 4A.
mhillfamily on February 12 at 10:50 a.m.
Jimmyball-Hate to correct you, but in 3A, four teams qualify for districts with East Valley being the odd team out. All four teams that qualify for districts also qualify for Regionals. All that the Districts games accomplish is seeding for Regionals, but none of the four teams (SP, NC, Rogers, Mt. Spo) get eliminated at the District level.
jimmyball on February 12 at 12:02 p.m.
Mhillfamily,
I stand corrected, you are right on!