Is PG testing a new format with the Freshman at LakePoint?

I would think it's just because it's a smaller tourney.  I don't see how you could make this work with 300+ teams like some of their bigger events have....there just aren't enough hours in the day to allow every team to make the playoff.  Cooperstown does it with 104 teams...but they have 32 fields....all in one location so there are no travel issues.  Even at that it takes 3 days to get thru it....imagine trying to do it with 300 teams....on fields scattered in a 2 hour radius....just don't think it's feasible

The biggest issue is that the younger age groups seldom have the large rosters that the older teams show up with.  Less pitching available in many cases.  Also, the larger tournaments are all a week long so the starting pitchers, even if they throw a complete game, on the first day can come back and throw in the playoffs.  

I wasn't thinking it was for the older kids, I thought this might be a test for the younger groups.  There are 13 teams in this event, but there are only 12 teams in the similar event in FT. Myers this weekend and they are following the traditional format.

There have been some grumbling in the younger ages about coaches putting in multiple kids per game for 30 pitches each.  If your pool play performance won't eliminate a team this could really change the pitching dynamic for the smaller kids.  

If I read the pitch smart guidelines right the coach can use their stud pitcher for 30 pitches on Friday, AND Saturday, AND game 1 of Sunday, and then pitch the 4th game to 80+ pitches.  It would be cruddy of the coach to do that but it seems to be allowed.  I would think this new format would allow the weaker pitchers to get in some serious mound time because the coach wouldn't be worried that if they lost game 1 they were done.

CACOGIRL,

We actually adjusted the PitchSmart rules and our rules would not allow pitchers to throw on that many consecutive days.

One of the better events my son played in this past summer was a V-tool event where you are scheduled for four games over three days.  And that's it.  No advancing/declining/trophies pitch count what if worries.  Coaches scheduled their pitchers/position players based on what they wanted to see and that was it.

PGStaff posted:

CACOGIRL,

We actually adjusted the PitchSmart rules and our rules would not allow pitchers to throw on that many consecutive days.

Good to know!  There are some coaches out there that would exploit that BIG TIME!

Yes, I know!

PGStaff posted:

Yes, I know!

Of course YOU know....the comment was for the peanut gallery :- )  Sorry if you thought it was for you.  Enjoy the 14u kids in FL.

If one of the goals in a larger tournament is to truly get the best 16 (or 32 or whatever) teams into the bracket, then the way USA baseball does it is kind of interesting, and I think it worked well. Going from memory here, but for the 14U Arizona tournament in 2015, it went something like this:

• 16 pools of 4 teams. Each team plays the other three teams in its pool.
• Then, the teams are seeded 1-64 for a fourth game. #1 plays #2, #3 plays #4, etc.
• Then the teams are re-seeded and the top 16 advance to bracket play

The advantage is, if there are two or more of the top teams in one pool, they get the chance to get out of their pool without winning it. Conversely, if a pool is weak, the winner can be knocked out in the fourth game. 

As it turned out in 2015, 3 of the 4 teams in a single pool made the 16-team bracket and then made the semifinals of the entire tournament. Yes, that's an extreme example of a stacked pool (and God help the 4th team in that pool!) but in a traditional format two of those teams would have been SOL, and the overall bracket would have been weaker as a result.