BY ADAM ZUVANICH l AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

Area high school baseball and softball coaches were sent scrambling a week ago, when the University Interscholastic League suspended all athletic competition until May 11 because of the swine flu outbreak in Texas.

Coaches were thrown another curveball on Wednesday, when the UIL announced that competition may resume as early as today.

The UIL’s most recent decision, which was based upon recommendations by the Texas Education Agency and Department of State Health Services, will not affect the upcoming regional track and field meets — which will stick to the revised schedules released last week. But baseball and softball teams, which are on the verge of beginning the postseason, must revamp their schedules once again.

The Frenship softball team, which last played Levelland on April 17, had scheduled a warmup game for Monday and a first-round playoff series against Caprock for May 14-16. Now the Tigers will scrap the warmup game and face Caprock in a home-and-home series on Saturday and Monday.

“It’s just been a big mess with having to make so many different plans,” Frenship coach Robby Dickenson said. “I wish they would have left it like it was. We already had everything set, and everybody was in that mindest. Now it makes everybody have to start scrambling and try to figure out what to do.”

Coronado baseball coach Jimmy Webster, whose team is one game out of a playoff spot with one District 2-5A game remaining, knows the feeling. The Mustangs were supposed to play their regular-season finale at Tascosa on May 2, but they rescheduled it for May 12 after the UIL’s initial announcement last Wednesday.

Now, the Mustangs and Rebels will square off at 1 p.m. Monday. If Coronado wins and Amarillo beats Midland on Friday — which would result in a fourth-place tie between Coronado and Midland — the Mustangs and Bulldogs would have a seeding playoff Tuesday or Wednesday for the district’s final postseason seed. The winner of that playoff would then have a bi-district matchup only a few days afterward against eighth-ranked El Paso Socorro.

“Obviously, that’s not the best-case scenario,” said Webster, who restructured his practices based on the first UIL decision. “I feel like they’re making up for a mistake with a mistake, instead of just sticking with it because that’s been what’s decided.”

Last week’s revised schedule called for the first round of the softball playoffs to be completed by May 16, but now the matchups must be finished by May 12. Baseball teams must now finish the regular season no later May 13 as opposed to May 19, and the opening round of the baseball playoffs must be completed by May 16 instead of May 23.

“Our concern was to try to get competition back on schedule as we originally intended,” said Kim Rogers, chief of staff for the UIL. “This helps the playoffs for softball and baseball get on the original schedule quicker than one we sent out last week.”

The dates for the state tournament have always remained the same for both sports, June 4-6 for softball and June 10-13 for baseball, but now the postseason won’t be as compressed. Last week’s revision called for the second and fourth rounds to be one-game playoffs instead of having the option to play a best-of-three series, and now only one round must be a one-game playoff — the regional quarterfinals for softball and the area round for baseball.

“I think that’s good,” said Snyder baseball coach Charles Bollinger, whose team is the defending Class 3A state champion.

Bollinger, whose input was solicited by the UIL before Wednesday afternoon’s announcement, also is glad that the layoff was shortened. His Tigers finished in a second-place tie with Abilene Wylie in District 2-3A, and the UIL’s decision allowed the teams to move up their seeding playoff by four days.

Snyder and Wylie had planned to face each other on Tuesday, but now they’ll square off at 7 p.m. Friday in Snyder.

“That’s fine with me,” Bollinger said. “Some of these teams haven’t been on the field for a while, and guys are itching to get on the field and play.”

Seminole baseball coach Mike Browning also is pleased that the “longest rain delay West Texas has ever had” is finally over. His Indians shared the District 3-3A championship with Andrews, and instead of waiting until Monday or later to face the Mustangs in a seeding playoff, the teams will now play at 1 p.m. Saturday in Andrews.

“It’s the first good news they’ve heard in a while,” Browning said of his players. “They’ve been pretty bored for a while, so maybe we’ll get more bounce in our step today.”

At least two of Lubbock’s baseball teams weren’t affected by Wednesday’s news. Monterey and Lubbock High, which have been eliminated from playoff contention in 2-5A, will stick to the schedules they devised last week and conclude their seasons early next week. Monterey will host Odessa at 7 p.m. Monday, and Lubbock High travels to face Odessa Permian at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Everyone else, including their rivals from Coronado, will be forced to make due.

“We can’t beat our head against the wall,” Webster said. “We’ll just adjust and move on.”

Game on

• The UIL announced Wednesday that athletic competition may resume today. Here is the updated schedule for the UIL baseball and softball playoffs.

Round deadline Baseball Softball

District certification May 12^ April 28

Bi-district May 16 May 12

Area May 19* May 16

Regional quarterfinal May 23 May 19*

Regional semifinal May 30 May 23

Regional final June 6 May 30

State tournament June 10-13 June 4-6

* one game only

^ deadline can be extended to May 13 if tiebreaking games are neededCalling all schedules

• The A-J is seeking revised schedules for area high school baseball and softball teams. Please submit schedules – including school names, start times and venues – for all regular-season games, seeding playoffs, warmup games and playoff games.

• Baseball schedules should be submitted to Adam Zuvanich at (806) 766-8733 or adam.zuvanich@lubbockonline.com. Softball schedules should be submitted to Travis Cram at (806) 766-8736 or travis.cram@lubbockonline.com.

To comment on this story:
adam.zuvanich@lubbockonline.com l 766-8733
jeff.walker@lubbockonline.com l 766-8735