Spring high school athletes, who were the first student-athletes to lose out on their seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic last year, will now be the first student-athletes to return to state tournament play after the MIAA Board of Directors voted Wednesday to extend the already approved sectional tournaments to include state semifinal and state championship rounds.
During the half-hour virtual meeting Wednesday, the Board voted 14-7 to extend the postseason to state semifinal and championship rounds, while also voting 18-3 to maintain a June 15 cutoff date for the spring regular season.
The MIAA Tournament Management Committee, which is scheduled to meet March 25, will now begin work to develop postseason play within those guidelines.
“I’m glad that the collective work of our Board of Directors, Covid-19 Task Force and Tournament Management Committee has allowed for us to not only have an upcoming spring season, but one which will provide for a sectional and statewide tournament,” said MIAA president Jeffrey Granatino in a statement. “It has not been an easy task, but it is one that has always the best interests of our student-athletes in mind.”
The spring tournaments will be the first MIAA-sanctioned tournaments since the COVID-19 pandemic began last March, when basketball and hockey state finals were canceled.
The last time that spring tournaments were held, which was in June of 2019, the St. Mary’s baseball team won the Div. 2 state title.
Other local teams also had great runs, with the Bishop Fenwick and Lynnfield baseball teams battling in the Div. 3 North Final and the St. John’s Prep baseball team making a run to the Div. 1A “Super 8” Final. The St. Mary’s softball team came up just short in the Div. 3 North Final, while the St. John’s Prep lacrosse team and the Marblehead girls lacrosse team also came up short in their respective sectional final games.
Last Friday, the Board passed the TMC recommendation to hold “opt-in” sectional tournaments but decided to wait on voting to add more state tournament games, instead voting to send out a survey to member schools.
According to MIAA Executive Director Bill Gaine, a total of 245 responses — 192 from athletic directors (roughly 57 percent of those in the state) and 53 from school principals — were received by the MIAA as of Wednesday morning. The anonymous survey didn’t ask participants to identify their school, so it was possible for a school to have a response in both categories. Of those responses, 216 indicated their school teams would intend to opt into postseason play. However, 141 responses opposed any changes to the TMC’s established cutoff dates of June 15 for the regular season and June 30 for the end of the postseason.
An additional question, asking if member schools would like to see the spring season start earlier than April 26, received 187 negative responses and only 58 in favor.
The Board approved a spring season window of April 26 to July 3 when it established the temporary four-season schedule for the 2020-21 school year because of the pandemic back in August.
Gaine told the Board that there is no model for how the tournament needs to be structured, and that playing consecutive days in many sports could be an option.
The next step will come on March 25, when the TMC will begin setting up how these spring tournaments will look at its next meeting.
