State Baseball Disadvantage

Open Letter to WIAA

I have some questions in regards to scheduling for state high school baseball. Some games are scheduled on turf fields and most are scheduled on grass. There is the possibility for a large advantage for the teams playing on turf if weather interferes with the games. And by turf, I mean just a turf infield.

For instance, Kelso in 3a has to drive 190 miles for a 10 am game this morning that gets canceled, so they have to drive 3 1/2 hours back, to do the same thing tomorrow, with the possibility of getting it all cancelled again, and then we would be into playing on school days during finals week. Keep in mind I have nothing to do with Kelso, I am involved with the Snohomish school district.

I have been involved with scheduling baseball fields for years, and it is always a challenge, but my question is this. With so many turf fields available, and more available every year, why would we schedule most all the preliminary state baseball games on grass?

I don't see how it could be the cost with there being so many turf fields available these days? Especially when you consider the costs of transporting athletes, coaches and umpires, all over the state, multiple times to the same place?

The real problem is by having some teams playing on turf, and some teams playing on grass, you are setting up the possibility of a huge competitive advantage for the teams playing on turf. If you hit a stretch of bad weather, you not only are transporting all these teams back and forth, over and over, but putting the teams playing on grass at a huge disadvantage with rest and recovery times that are needed. Then factor in if the games have to be played on a school day, it turns into a complete disaster.

So back to my original question of why are most of the state baseball games being played on grass and some on turf when it is so avoidable? Thank you for your time.

Concerned Parent