Rec. Field to host baseball title games
Toolbox
By TOM HALEY RUTLAND HERALD STAFF - Published: August 8, 2009
The high school baseball state championship games, long played at Burlington's Centennial Field, will shift to Montpelier Recreation Field in 2010.
The Montpelier Recreation Field has received numerous upgrades in recent years as the home of the New England Collegiate Baseball League's Vermont Mountaineers.
"It's a beautiful park," Vermont Principals Association Activities Director Bob Johnson said. "The Mountaineers have said they will move their home games so that we can play the games there. Brian Gallagher (the Mountaineers' general manager) is very excited about being the host."
Johnson said the VPA's baseball committee has been looking into the Montpelier facility as a site for a couple of years. There has been uncertainty about Centennial Field and its tenant, the New York-Penn League's Vermont Lake Monsters. Ray Pecor, owner of the Lake Monsters franchise, has one year remaining on his contract with the Washington Nationals.
Johnson said another place under consideration had been Southern Vermont College's baseball facility in Bennington, but not having lights precluded that as a championship site.
Another change in high school playoffs sites certain to be discussed is the semifinals in girls ice hockey. The semifinals have been at Norwich University's Kreitzberg Arena.
"On a good night, you might get 100 to 150 peo-ple," Johnson said.
The alternative would be to play the semifinal game on the home ice of the higher-seeded team.
"But the thing we have to be careful of is whether it is a Title IX issue or not. I have heard both sides. A lot of coaches are saying than would rather play at home in a packed arena," Johnson said.
A change that is already in place for this school year involves the index-points formula. Now, a team will not receive fewer index points for a victory against a team in a lower division. If Division I Rutland, for example, defeats Division II Fair Haven, it will be awarded the same index points it would have received for defeating a Division I team.
The intent here is to encourage more local scheduling if that is the direction administrators would like to go due to the economy.
There is a proposal by the VPA's football committee to look into playing the championship games in all three divisions at the same site on the same day.
"The football committee will meet on that. I have heard mixed reviews on it," Johnson said.
That would not affect the football title games in 2009.
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