Coaches Approve Plan to Change Playoff Format

The California community college baseball coaches appear to have found an answer to their complaint that not enough teams make the playoffs.

A plan to increase the number of playoff teams from 16 to 28 was approved by each of the state’s 11 conferences last month at the annual coaches’ meeting in Bakersfield. The plan, introduced by Mike Mayne, Orange Coast College coach, and Scott Pickler, Cypress coach, still must be approved by the state community college Commission on Athletics in October.

In the south, the five conference winners and the top-seeded second place team will automatically advance to the second round under the proposal. Seeding will be done by a committee of coaches.

The other four second-place teams and the top four seeded third-place teams would then compete in a two-day single-elimination tournament starting May 10. The two finalists would join the six teams that gained automatic berths, and these eight would play in a double-elimination tournament to determine which two would advance to the state tournament.

Since 1982, the five conference winners and three wild card teams in the south and six conference winners and two wild card teams in the north have made the playoffs. Then, four three-game playoff series were played in each regional and the eight winning teams would qualify for the state tournament. This format was also voted in by the coaches.

“It sounds really confusing but it should work out much better,” Mayne said. “Really, the only thing that could go wrong would be the decisions of the seeding committee.”