Tuesday recap: Frustration for Parkland; desperation for Pen Argyl; hope for Saucon

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/ FROM KEITH GROLLER Some people wonder why the state softball playoffs aren't expanded to include 32 teams in each bracket instead of 16. That would give District 11 a few more qualifiers, they say. If basketball can have five rounds, why can't softball? All you need is one more round of games? Well, Tuesday is a perfect answer to why district and PIAA officials don't want to expand any softball, or any spring sport. It's hard enough to get the games in as it is now. Besides dodging the rain drops, tournament officials have to worry about proms and graduation ceremonies. There were supposed to be six state semifinal games played on Tuesday. Only one provided a result and I am sure it is a very disheartening, unsatisfying result for Parkland. To a degree, it was probably less than satisfying for Liberty as well. You work hard all year to get to the district semis and then you are deprived of a complete opportunity at ErinWwinning the game. Rules are rules and so on, but you wonder if District 11 should adopt the World Series policy that Major League Baseball went to after the Phillies-Rays fiasco a few years ago and that's insist that all playoff games must go the full distance. (The game started under brighters skies as you can see at the right). It's not the first time this happened. Emmaus beat Easton a few years ago in the district finals in another game that didn't go the full seven. That one felt just as unsatisfying to all concerned. I didn't get the chance to talk to Parkland coach Barry Search after the final decision to call the game was announced on Tuesday night. Knowing Search, I am sure he would have said: "That's the way it goes" and "We had our chances." Still, it's a very disappointing way for a season to end, and in the case of seniors, a career to finish. Had it been 5-2, 7-3 something like that, everybody would have felt better about it. But 3-2 with an inning and half to go, well, it still felt like it was anybody's ballgame. Becahi-Northwestern, Emmaus-Northampton and Palmerton-Pine Grove never got started, but two other games did. And those two have offered surprising results so far. North Schuylkill leads Colonial League champ Pen Argyl 6-2 entering the bottom of the fifth and Saucon Valley holds a 2-1 edge on Pottsville, also in the bottom of the fifth. If any Colonial League team was supposed to make it to a district final it was supposed to be Pen Argyl. We'll see what happens, but those two results add to what was a very strange, messy day in area softball.