Gsl Baseball’S Wayward Schedule Strikes Out Looking

Mom always insisted that we try the parsnips before spitting them into the sink.

The parsnips still ended up in the sink, but at least mom had a point.

Greater Spokane League baseball gurus served up a plate of lukewarm parsnips this spring.

“Just try it,” they told us about the league’s new unbalanced schedule.

Well, we took a bite. And it’s time to dump the current schedule into the nearest garbage disposal.

Some background:

Before this season, the GSL was a 10-team league. Each team played 18 league games, two against every other league team. That schedule still allowed for the addition of two non-leaguers to fill out the 20 games allowed by state rules.

But the luxury of playing a double round-robin and tossing in a few non-leaguers ended this season. Enrollment-bloated East Valley joined the GSL and created an 11-team league.

The best solution, as GSL basketball teams discovered, was to throw out non-league games and switch to a 20-game league schedule. Again, that allowed for two chances at each team.

But GSL baseball coaches say their sport shouldn’t be compared to basketball. Non-league games are necessary, they say, to slowly bring along pitchers while the weather is cold.

So their 2000 schedule included 16 league games and four non-leaguers. Under the unbalanced format, each team plays two games against six teams and one game against the other four.

Unfortunately, the random aspect of the schedule produces unwanted results. The way this season has developed, the schedule couldn’t be much worse.

Heading into this week, Ferris and North Central were tied for first place at 8-2. Central Valley and Shadle Park were one game back, at 7-3, with six games remaining.

The pennant race may still be a beauty, but no thanks to the warped schedule.

There will be no second matchups between Shadle and CV, Ferris and Shadle, and CV and Ferris.

Their first-round encounters, all played last week, were ones to remember. Shadle scored three unearned runs in the sixth inning to top CV 3-1, Ferris outlasted Shadle 13-12 in nine innings, and CV held off Ferris 3-2 after the Saxons scored twice in the seventh.

We wouldn’t want to see those teams play again, would we?

Meanwhile, NC received the short end of the stick in its drive toward its first title since 1978. Unlike the other three teams, NC must play each contender twice.

Even my parsnip-lovin’ mom wouldn’t have felt right about spooning that onto NC’s plate.

True, the GSL’s district tournament allows a third- or fourth-place team to catch fire and advance to regional competition. Rogers proved last year that even a fifth-place team can become one of two GSL teams to meet the Big Nine Conference at region.

But the district format is weighed heavily toward the champion and runner-up. The champ receives an automatic berth to region. The second-place team rests its ace pitcher while awaiting a survivor that has already played two district games.

It’s not too late for the GSL to install a fair schedule for 2001.

The league is already considering an 18-game league schedule for next season, but that’s not the best solution.

Toss out the non-leaguers before the next ball is tossed out.