Southern Section Rejects Baseball Schedule Changes

The Southern Section Council on Thursday voted down a proposal that would have changed the way baseball games are counted under the section’s 20-game rule.

Teams are limited to 20 games during the regular season, though doubleheaders count as only one game and as many as five games in a tournament count as only two, so some teams play significantly more games. The proposal by the Suburban League sought a flat, 28-game maximum.

In matters that will go before the CIF State Federated Council next week, the Southern Section Council--made up of representatives from each league--voted to support revisions in gender equity complaint and appeal procedures, and to support a proposal to recognize lacrosse as a CIF sport.

The Southern Section, by far the largest of the CIF’s 10 sections, holds 30 of the 110 votes at the state level.

The proposed gender equity revision would provide a process for registering complaints on decisions made by the executive director of the CIF or the state staff.

If the lacrosse proposal, submitted by the San Diego Section, passes at the state level, it will allow individual sections to add the sport, though each section has its own procedures for doing so.

A Southern Section moratorium on adding new sports ends with the 2001-2002 school year. According to a survey of each of the CIF’s 10 sections, 10 Southern Section schools have lacrosse teams.

An agenda item regarding participation in high school all-star games was pulled from consideration because the proposal is being rewritten.

In non-actionable Southern Section agenda items, Foothill softball Coach Joe Gonzales presented a Century League proposal that seeks to increase the number of allowable softball doubleheaders from two to four. The proposal also would allow teams to play eight games in a tournament instead of five, and as many as three tournament games in one day, instead of two.

Other presentations were made regarding: increasing the maximum distance in cross-country races from three miles to what has become the more standard 5,000 meters (3 miles 178 yards); allowing substitutions during tennis playoff matches after the first round of a match, and adding five at-large representatives to the Southern Section Council to provide more balanced gender and ethnic representation.