Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Watch this high school baseball team pull off a clever misdirection play to pickoff the runner at second
All warfare is based on deception. It can be useful in baseball, too, as it turns out.
Watch this high school baseball team pull off a clever misdirection play to pick off the runner at second by using their shortstop as a decoy, setting him up for the pickoff.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CslehUkvLDE/?hl=en
Magnificent.
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NY baseball team wins championship via premature celebration
Brody Burch, two-sport athlete at Pocatello (Idaho) wins multiple state championships on the same day.
Brody Burch plays pitcher and runs track and field for Pocatello High School, a small school in Idaho with a little over 1,200 students. This past weekend Burch put all other amateur athletes to shame, accomplishing a remarkable feat by winning two separate state championships on the same day, according to an account by Grayson Weir at Outkick.
On Saturday afternoon, Burch got started by winning the 5A/4A state track meet 800-meter dash in Meridian. While that was happening, Pocatello’s baseball team was 137 miles away in Twin Falls for the 4A State Championship.
After the race ended, Burch’s family drove him to the Boise airport and took a private jet to Twin Falls. Burch arrived in time for the fourth inning and was brought in as a reliever. He struck out four batters in three innings, closing out the win and the state championship for Pocatello baseball.
Here's how they did it. All the highlights from @pokybb25 14-4 victory over Skyview for the 4A state title. #idpreps pic.twitter.com/SdToxlvVJL
— Joey DuBois (@joeyduboistv) May 21, 2023
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Multiple high school baseball teams in California are declining their spots in the CIF Southern California Regional playoffs.
Multiple high school baseball teams in California are declining their spots in the CIF Southern California Regional playoffs despite qualifying. JSerra, Canyon and Yorba Linda have all decided not to participate in the tournament, which begins one week from today and runs through June 3.
According to Steve Fryer at the Orange County Register, the head coach at JSerra, Brett Kay says that his players made the decision and he supports it.
“There’s only one dogpile… That’s the way the seniors want to finish it and I told them, ‘I support you guys’… The seniors are already out of school and the underclassmen have finals this week. They all said there is no better way to go out.”
Kay also said he wants to spend more time with his family.
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Team USA U12 player called out for missing home plate on grand slam
Photo Gallery: The best of the 2023 high school baseball season
Top shot from around the diamond in ’23.
The high school baseball season has nearly wrapped up across the U.S., with state championships and regional titles capping off playoff runs from the East, West, North, and South.
As we get ready to tip our collective caps and bid farewell to the 2023 grind, we’re taking a look back at some of the best shots captured of the high school baseball action from diamonds all over the map.
The Channel Islands team had two games remaining on their 2023 schedule and they got an assist from their opponents.
The Channel Islands High School (Calif.) baseball team faced an extremely awful situation in late April. According to an account by the local ABC affiliate, the door to the team’s clubhouse was busted open, and the perpetrator(s) made off with bats, gloves and other assorted baseball equipment totaling $6,000.
Unfortunate as the incident is, this story does have a silver lining.
The Channel Islands team had two games remaining on their 2023 schedule and they got an assist from their opponents. Both Rio Mesa and Oxnard high schools donated equipment for them to use during their matchups.
The team’s head coach Ronnie Marin had this to say about the gesture, per ABC.
“That was really humbling that they just gave it to us before the game started so the kids were all happy and they used it during the game…”
Channel Islands beat Rio Mesa 3-2 but ended their season with a 10-3 loss to Oxnard, finishing the season 6-14-1.
The equipment theft is still being investigated, and the team is raising money to replace what was taken.
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The losses cost the Eaglets their long-time spot at the top of the state rankings.
The Orchard Lake St. Mary’s (Mich.) Eaglets varsity baseball team had an incredible 84-game win streak going, which was the longest winning streak in Michigan state history—however, St. Mary’s recently lost back-to-back games against Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett.
The losses cost the Eaglets their long-time spot at the top of the state rankings. St. Mary’s had been in first place for almost four years, but the No. 1 position in the Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association state rankings is now occupied by 20-1 Northville, while St. Mary’s is second. Bay City Western is the last undefeated team in the state this season, at 19-0.
Here’s what the updated top-five looks like, per Lee Thompson of M Live.
1. Northville 20-1
2. Orchard Lake St. Mary 20-3
3. Bay City Western 19-0
4. Battle Creek Lakeview 20-2
5. Birmingham Brother Rice 17-6
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Nowhere do they take high school baseball more seriously than in the state of Oklahoma.
High school baseball playoffs continue to make significant headlines for the wrong reasons in 2023. This time, two Oklahoma were at the forefront of an altercation last weekend.
Just after Oklahoma Christian beat Bethel for the second time in three days during the OSSAA 3A Regional Tournament, the players lined up for the customary handshakes. One player decided not to take the classy road, though.
Watch as this Bethel player throws a nasty right hand at Oklahoma Christian’s catcher as he passes by.
— @OLDROWVIRAL (@calicocutpant) May 8, 2023
Oklahoma Christian has advanced to the state playoffs.
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New NJ little league rule: Confront the umpire, try it yourself
Tennessee high school baseball is back in the news after an on-field brawl during a playoff game
Tennessee high school baseball playoffs are back in the national news cycle for less than favorable circumstances after two teams had the season cut short due to an on-field fight.
The TSSA reprimanded Elizabethton and Unicoi County for the incident that took place on Saturday’s Division 1-3A playoffs.
According to TVA Credit Union Ballpark reports, the fight began during the close game when a Unicoi County player and an Elizabethton player had a brief altercation at third base following a hit. Within seconds, a punch was thrown, which led to the benches clearing and the scuffle escalating.
Grainy video of the fight made its way onto social media.
The game was suspended in the seventh inning after the umpires and coaches broke up the brawl, which meant Sunday’s District 1-3A championship game had to be postponed.
In the aftermath, the schools stated a “unified” proposal was made to the TSSA’s Gene Menes regarding the punishment, while the association reviewed the events and reports before proceeding.
By Monday, the fate of both schools had been determined:
According to reports, Unicoi County will appeal the ruling.
The ruling marks the second time during the 2023 playoffs the TSSA needed to make a judgment on a team that resulted in a premature end to the season.
But this scenario was not as trivial as going one pitch over the allotted pitch count—which happened last week in the game between Ensworth and Father Ryan.
Instead, the nature of the altercation was more severe and the punishment handed down seemed to match the violation of the TSSAA’s unsportsmanlike conduct by-laws.
Do you take issue with an umpire’s call? Step up behind the plate and see if you can do any better. That’s a new New Jersey little league rule to combat confrontations between umps and fans.
A New Jersey little league is telling unruly fans to put up or shut up.
The Deptford Township Little League has instituted a new rule this season to combat the number of arguments between fans and umpires. Spectators who confront umpires during a baseball game must umpire three games before they are allowed back to watch, according to USA TODAY.
This comes in the wake of two volunteer umpires quitting from mid- to late-April, the league’s president Don Bozzuffi told WPVI.
“They’re being abused, they don’t need that … So they’re walking away,” he said to the TV station.
Parents arguing with umpires is by no means a new phenomenon, but combativeness appears to be worsening in many areas. Bozzuffi said that the goal of the rule is not for parents to start calling baseball games but instead for them to see how difficult of a job it is.
For safe measure, if the rule does force a spectator to call the game, a certified umpire will also be at the game to ensure calls are correct.
Maybe fans will see that their usual vantage point from the stands is not as accurate as the one of an umpire behind the plate.
“They think that the call was bad, which always amazes me that they can see a strike better over there than the umpire can one foot in back of them,” Bozzuffi said.
WPVI reported that people generally liked the rule. Bozzuffi said the kids are excited about it, and even some parents are looking forward to its implementation.
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Connor Cobb’s 16-strikeout no-hitter was in violation of TSSA rules for pitch counts.
A Tennessee High School Division II-AA three-game playoff series has been cast into the national spotlight after Ensworth’s pitcher Connor Cobb tossed a no-hit gem to tie the series with Father Ryan at 1-1.
While you’d expect the buzz to be focused on the Vanderbilt commit’s masterpiece, that’s not the case. Instead, it was Cobb’s final pitch—No. 121 on the day— that caused a stir.
In short: it was one pitch too many under TSSAA’s rules.
Per the TSSAA rulebook, the pitch count rule allows for an athlete to throw no more than 120 pitches in one day.
Ensworth’s coach Jason Maxwell called the association the following day and reported the infraction, which led to the forfeit of the series and a shocking end to the season.
As The Tennesessaon’s Tom Kreager reported, it sounds like this occurrence—though odd—isn’t uncommon:
[Gene] Menees reiterated that the TSSAA’s rule is 120 pitches and has been “as long as there has been a pitch count rule.” Menees said the first year of the rule pitchers were permitted to finish the batter at the plate. That changed after one year. The pitch count rule began in 2017.
Menees said the TSSAA sees pitch count violations submitted to its Hermitage office each year. He said it’s more common in the playoffs.
Father Ryan now advances to the Mid Region round, where they’ll play Lipscomb Academy.
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