Aside from determining home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs, seeding for the Zone 2 tournament may prove to be nothing more than just numbers.
Parity has been the go-to word for coaches throughout the year when describing the 12-team zone. Following the 18-game regular season, the field has now shrunk to eight as the zone tournament begins Tuesday, but the parity has only gotten stronger.
“Anywhere from 1-8, anybody could beat anybody,” Pastime coach Andrew Cessario said. “It’s the team that’s going to be fundamentally sound. It’s going to be the team that’s going to execute in all their situations that is going to win this zone.”
Bessey Motors, Franklin County, Pastime, Gardiner, Augusta, Rogers Post, Tri-Town and Highland Green made the postseason cut. Seven of the eight teams finished with at least 10 wins. Highland Green is the lone team under .500 in the playoff field, winning a head-to-head tiebreaker with Locke Mills to clinch the final playoff spot.
The top four seeds — Bessey Motors, Franklin County, Pastime and Gardiner — will host their respective first-round games, which will be a single-elimination, nine-inning contest. The four winners will advance to a double-elimination tournament in Augusta beginning Wednesday.
“The parity in the league in unbelievable, which I think is great,” Franklin County coach Kyle Gunzinger said. “You have to get through that first game because if you don’t you’re not playing in the double-elimination tournament, so it’s all hands on deck for that first one, then you worry about the next day and the next day.”
Franklin County hosts seventh-seeded Tri-Town in the first round. The teams opened the season against one another in a doubleheader split and haven’t met since. Franklin County’s roster hasn’t changed since then, but Tri-Town’s has, adding players from Andy Valley, which forfeited its season in June.
Tri-Town’s trip to Farmington is a long one — roughly 50 miles one-way. Rogers Post has to travel to its first-round game as well, but its trip is right across the bridge in Lewiston. The teams split during the regular season, with each team winning on the road.
“I think that both teams know each other well,” Rogers Post coach Dave Jordan said. “It will come down to teams that can execute and make the basic plays and move runners and score runs and stuff like that. It comes down to eliminating all the mistakes. In our win I think they made more mistakes than we did and in their win we made more mistakes than they did.”
Top-seeded Bessey Motors hosts Highland Green and fourth-seeded Gardiner welcomes Augusta in the other first-round games.
Every team has played each other at least once, but with the zone tournament stretching games to nine innings, it adds a new dynamic. There is an added emphasis on a deep pitching staff and the ability to make all the routine plays in the field.
“In the end the team with more runs wins,” Gunzinger said. “You can go more into the dynamics of having relievers. The importance of attacking the strike zone is also key in keeping pitch counts down because at some point in the tournament it becomes a battle of attrition.”
Gunzinger has a number of arms to choose from, including Amos Herrin, Colton Lawrence and Evan Roberts to name a few. Pastime is in the same boat with Austin Wing, Mike Wong and Matt Poulin. Rogers Post has Jarod Plourde, Lew Jensen and Brandon Varney. Bessey Motors counters with post-grad Riley Chickering, Bailey West amd Aiden Heikkinen. And that’s just some of the names to choose from. All four coaches have an arsenal of arms at their disposal.
For some teams, the addition of two more innings is nothing they haven’t already experienced at some point this season. Pastime, Franklin County, Rogers Post and Bessey Motors have all played extra-inning games this season, some with more success than others.
Pastime handed Bessey Motors its first loss of the season in 12 innings and beat Rogers Post in 11 a week earlier. Bessey Motors won a pair of nine-inning games against Franklin County in a doubleheader sweep and Rogers Post handed the Flyers their third straight loss in nine innings the following week.
Pitching, defense and experience in late-game situations with the game on the line will factor into which two teams advance to the state tournament. Momentum could play a part as well.
Some teams, like Rogers Post, enter the postseason with plenty of momentum. Rogers Post concluded the season with a sweep of Bessey Motors and has won 7 of 8 since starting 5-5. It’s won its last four games, putting up 57 runs in the process.
“I think we’re definitely moving toward peaking at the right time,” Jordan said. “I don’t feel we’re where we want to be quite yet, but we’re moving in that direction. We’ve hit the ball better. We’ve scored some more runs. Our pitching been’s pretty solid most of the year.”
Franklin County’s sweep of Locke Mills halted a four-game slide after a 10-1 start to generate some momentum in the Flyers’ favor.
After a 2-2 start, Pastime won 11 of 14.
Bessey Motors trended in the opposite direction to close its regular season. The regular season champions lost its final three games, though they all came after Bessey Motors had locked up the No. 1 seed.
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