Thought for New Playoff Format for Louisiana High School Baseball/Softball

Just an idea and thought I have for a new playoff format for baseball and softball. First of all, the split needs to be done away with for it to work really good. I’m sure this idea is possible for the playoffs even with the split but doing away with the split would just be a lot better. The split just needs to be done away with regardless of the playoff format anyways.

Pretty much the format would be 8 regional hosts and they would be the top 8 teams in the power rankings. They would still be paired up with each other just like they are now. For example, the 1 seed would still be matched up with the 16,17, and 32 seed. The 1 seed would be the number 1 team in the regional, the 16 seed would be the number 2 team in that regional, the 17 seed would be the number 3 team in that regional, and the 32 seed would be the number 4 team in that regional. They would play a double elimination tournament over the course of a weekend. It’s pretty much formatted just like a college baseball regional.

The 8 regionals are still matched up with each other just like a normal playoff bracket. For example, the winner of the number 1 seeded regional would play the winner of the number 8 seeded regional in a best of 3 series and the location would be at the higher seededs ball park. For example, the number 2 team in the number 1 seeded regional wins that regional, and the number 1 team in the number 8 seeded team wins that regional, so the number 8 seeded team (because they are the number 8 team in the power rankings opposed to the number 16 team in the power rankings) would be the host for the next round in a best of 3 series. Then the 4 winners of the best of 3 series go to Sulphur and either play just single elimination just like it is now, or they could play a 4 team tournament for the state championship.

I’ll post what this format would look like based off of last years power rankings for 5A combined and I’ll just choose random teams as winners to show how the format works for the rounds after the regionals. I’ll put * to show the regional winners. I’m sure I’m not the first person to come up with this idea and post about it but I think it’d be a cool idea and format to have. At least with 4A and 5A because they have more pitching depth than lower classes so yes I do know that this could be an issue for lower class teams because they don’t have the depth that upper class teams have.

Bracket 1

1.) West Monroe Regional

1. West Monroe (1)*
2. New Iberia (16)
3. Brother Martin (17)
4. Thibodaux (32)

8.) Destrehan Regional

1. Destrehan (8)*
2. Holy Cross (9)
3. Dutchtown (24)
4. Denham Springs (25)

5.) Catholic Regional

1. Catholic (5)*
2. Sulphur (12)
3. Ruston (21)
4. Covington (28)

4.) Sam Houston Regional

1. Sam Houston (4)
2. Rummel (13)*
3. St Paul’s (20)
4. East Ascension (29)

Bracket 2

2.) Barbe Regional

1. Barbe (2)
2. Jesuit (15)*
3. Airline (18)
4. Lafayette (31)

7.) Zachary Regional

1. Zachary (7)
2. Central (10)*
3. Ouachita (23)
4. St Amant (26)

6.) Acadiana Regional

1. Acadiana (6)*
2. Hahnville (11)
3. H.L. Bourgeois (22)
4. Northshore (27)

3.) John Curtis Regional

1. John Curtis (3)*
2. Live Oak (14)
3. Pineville (19)
4. Alexandria (30)

Best of 3 series (Super Regionals)

Bracket 1

(8) Destrehan @ (1) West Monroe*
(13) Rummel @ (5) Catholic*

Bracket 2

(15) Jesuit @ (10) Central*
(6) Acadiana @ (3) John Curtis*

Final 4 (which can be either a double elimination tournament or just your normal single elimination semi finals and state championship

(1) West Monroe vs (5) Catholic
(3) John Curtis vs (10) Central