The budding hopes of a Super 8 tournament return have been tempered, at least for now.
The MIAA’s Tournament Management Committee on Tuesday decided to table a recent discussion for bringing back the Div. 1A tournament for baseball until February. This decision came one week after the sport’s own committee voted for approval with a resounding 14-1-1 count.
“I think, for me, it’s kind of about us trying to make sure we get everything right,” Burlington athletic director and TMC chairman Shaun Hart said. “I know that excitement is important, and I think people are excited to get to some things that we used to do, and try to do again. But again, I’m trying to make sure that if we’re putting a road map of how to get something great, that we’re taking the time to go through it.”
Baseball would become the first sport to implement a new Div. 1A tournament since the concept was disbanded by the MIAA in 2021. Under the revised proposal, schools would be selected for the Super 8 based on their overall MIAA power rating, regardless of which division they were in. The first round would be double elimination, and teams would be guaranteed at least two games. The championship would be a single final. Schools would not have a choice to opt out as part of the new format.
Most of the TMC members on the call seemed to be in favor of how the proposal was presented and felt it should be considered. However, no official vote was made for implementation.
“To be honest, I wasn’t thinking next week,” Haverhill athletic director and baseball committee chairman Tom O’Brien said to the TMC. “I was thinking today you’d vote on it. We’ve already done a lot of the work for the districts. We’ve got the feedback from the districts. That’s what the baseball committee’s job was. That’s why we have representation. We sent that out, and we feel we’ve done all that work.”
Hart later gave more insight to the Herald about the TMC’s collective choice.
“When we started these conversations, the conversation was about bringing about a product that is going to enhance, that’s going to make things better,” Hart said. “… I want to make sure we’re doing the right thing for kids, and I want to make sure we’re doing the right thing for coaches.”
Had there been a Super 8 tournament last spring, one Div. 2 school and two Div. 3 programs would have made the Div. 1A field. This list includes St. Mary’s (Lynn), which finished the regular season atop the Div. 3 power rankings at 19-3.
Spartans coach Derek Dana has fond memories of the Div. 1A playoff, and is hoping for a resolution.
“I was disappointed to see it go,” Dana said. “I thought it was a great tournament. A lot of people, not just baseball people, were talking about it, going to it. … What I liked, and what I had heard about (the proposed format), is that it’s no longer just (based on) a committee. If you go by power rankings, and you play a good schedule, it’s a strong schedule, and you do the winning part – you get rewarded with that. I think that’s a great idea.”
Should the TMC decide to make a vote next month, as O’Brien and his colleagues are clamoring for, a Div. 1A baseball tournament could be installed in time for the 2027 season.
“They want to take their time, and do the right thing,” O’Brien said. “It is a big decision.”
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