who will take state?

also, why do you think?

Minooka--why? Pitching-and my kids go there.

Stevenson, pitching, hitting and fielding. But hey you never know always many upsets along the way.

I think Minooka has a good chance! It's always a dogfight to the end though.

With so many classes...it becomes a bit watered down. It is emblematic of our society---EVERYONE IS A WINNER! EVERYONE IS A CHAMPION!!!!!!!

Anyone ever consider a format where 1. not every team makes the playoffs and 2. there is a three game series to determine advancement.

This one and done stuff is so not accurate for baseball.

Typical northern response to the 4 classes.
Should Marissa and their 172 students or Shawnees 155, or Gorevilles 182 be in the same 1A class as Harrisburgs 634 or Herrins 739? It is not watered down in our area. I finally created fair competition for those tiny schools who have to scrape out teams every year. Come down and watch a few games in the deep south and then say that things got watered down. 780+ schools participating in the ihsa and 4 champions is not watering anything down.

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Should Marissa and their 172 students or Shawnees 155, or Gorevilles 182 be in the same 1A class as Harrisburgs 634 or Herrins 739?

Well.. realistically there are many schools who compete at this kind of spread week in and week out in conference schedules. Look at the Mississippi Valley-- Triad has over 1300 while Mascoutah and CM have less than 900. And I've seen it mentioned about a couple of schools even smaller than that possibly looking to join.

You're not going to please everyone ever. I won't complain about how many classes we have. Instead, I'll point out that we shouldn't HAVE schools that only have a couple hundred students. The Marissas, the Valmeyers, the New Athens schools... they are one reason the state of Illinois has no money.

I'm sure that there are schools with a great difference between enrollments. Its not the same when tiny schools are pulling from all the small towns around to create a school district. The discrepancy between 1300 to 900 is a lot less than 150 to 750. Trust me. My high school was tiny and we had to compete with the large schools before the class expansion. Most of those small schools have a majority of their students who live below the poverty line as opposed to the metro east schools. It does make a difference in athletics whether you believe it or not. Also why bother with the private school multiplier if everyone wants to complain about 4 classes. That being said I agree on the consolidation of schools in the deep south and all other areas for that matter.

Bulldog....over the years you have been on target most of the time. But the statement about these small schools not having the right to exist is way off. Would you be busing these kids halfway across the county? Those communities are every bit as entitled as any to have schools.

I'll remind you that the vast majority of the funding is local, not from the state.

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Would you be busing these kids halfway across the county? Those communities are every bit as entitled as any to have schools.

I am in a school district that does this. I had classmates that were on the bus for as much as 90 minutes every day before and after school. They travel much further than the schools that I mentioned would have to travel. Let me give you a couple of examples..

I mentioned Valmeyer. For a long time, the Waterloo School District boundary line went right up to the Valmeyer town. From Valmeyer High School to the old Waterloo High School is 8.4 miles. Back in the mid 90's the Valmeyer students were going to school in Waterloo due to the flood. It's really not that far. Valmeyer students could also go to Columbia. It's only 12.2 miles.

From Marissa High School to New Athens High School is also 8.1 miles. From New Athens to Freeburg is 10.4 miles while Marissa to Sparta is 10.1 miles.

We're not talking all over the state. These are rather short trips. These are just a few examples. Just think of the money that would be saved if schools like these would consolidate.

Venice, IL has it's own school. They have all of 11 teachers I believe, but they've got a principal and a Superidentent. Meanwhile schools are cutting teachers left and right due to budget cuts. Why do they have budget cuts? Because the STATE isn't paying their bills...

I like the fact that a community can rally around it's school and its programs. I know there is good and bad in every situation. In the spring alone Water polo, gymnastics, volleyball, tennis, Lacrosse, track and field and baseball. As far as the best team that is coming out of our area, I would give the nod to Stevenson. Awesome, just Awesome. The Pitch, Defend and hit with great depth. Should be fun to watch. Going to watch Herscher tomorrow night and got a chance to watch Class A Westminster Catholic play Lena Winslow (a team west of rockford) saturday. I think their whole town was there and what a great atmosphere. Did not hear a foul word or a negative thing come out of their mouths in the two in a half hours I got to hang out.

Naperville Central and the two lefties all the way! They have a shot.

If the games can't be played today, which team is most affected?

Assuming a team can't play today, they will have to play Monday and if they win play tuesday. If they advance through the Super-sectionals and into the state weekend both of the team's top two starting pitchers will be on 3 days rest for friday and saturday.

The team that has the best #3 might be in position here to take this thing because at some point the 3 is going to have to pitch and maybe before the championship game.

Any thoughts?

A dollar to a dime says that the number one and two pitchers will go with 3 days rest if the games get rained out today. This will really affect a power pitcher, those guys will lose velocity.

I agree that they will start but wonder how long they can go