1:40 AM, May 13, 2012
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By MARC RAIMONDI
Softball wasn’t on my mind Saturday afternoon. I was at York College covering the PSAL boys volleyball quarterfinals.
Then my phone blew up.
Calls. Texts. Tweets. E-mails. All PSAL softball coaches upset with the seeding following the meeting held Saturday morning.
Two said it was the worst they have seen. Others were simply confused. More than 15 coaches went to the PSAL offices in Long Island City and came up with a seemingly sensible bracket that was agreed upon. Then it was changed by PSAL officials.
You can find the seeds below followed by my analysis:
1. Tottenville
2. Susan Wagner
3. James Madison
4. Construction
5. Cardozo
6. Francis Lewis
7. Bayside
8. Bryant
9. Stuyvesant
10. McKee/Staten Island Tech
11. Stevenson
12. Clinton
13. Telecommunications
14. Forest Hills
15. George Washington
16. Bronx Science
17. Hunter College HS
18. New Dorp
19. InTech Academy
20. Long Island City
21. Van Buren
22. Lane
23. Manhattan Center
24. Petrides
25. Bushwick
26. Environmental Studies
27. Walton
28. Lehman
29. Midwood
30. Port Richmond
31. Beacon
32. Grand Street Campus
Analysis: To me, everything in this seeding is secondary to the Nos. 3 and 4 spots. Madison is not No. 3. There’s just no way. Can’t be. Madison lost to Francis Lewis in a crossover league game. Construction beat Lewis in a crossover league game. There you go. Clear cut. Construction has to be seeded over Madison.
There’s a huge difference between being No. 3 and No. 4 in this instance, because you avoid powerhouse Tottenville until the championship game with the third seed.
I don’t even want to hear that Madison only lost to Tottenville, 3-0, and that Tottenville beat Construction, 15-2. You can’t base playoff seeding on games in which both teams lost. You base it on head-to-head and common opponent – like the PSAL seeding criteria actually reads.
There is just no way you can argue Madison over Construction. Why bother having crossover games if you’re going to ignore a very simple result with a common opponent, in this case Lewis?
There was also another case of the PSAL ignoring crossover games. Bryant run-ruled Cardozo, 12-2, yet Cardozo got the No. 5 seed and Bryant was No. 8.
I understand the PSAL always seeds division teams in order of regular-season standings, but that logic is flawed in softball, because of crossover games. Teams in the same division are playing different schedules. Francis Lewis faced Construction and Madison, while Cardozo took on Bryant and LaGuardia. There’s an imbalance, therefore you cannot seed teams based on division finishes anymore. Lewis had the best résumé in that division, even though it ended up with one more loss. If Cardozo played Construction and Madison, it would have had two more losses in all likelihood.
When you seed with division standings, you can’t have an uneven schedule. Because then you have teams like Bryant that get screwed. Cardozo won its division despite the fact that Bryant blasted Cardozo. We’re not talking about a 2-1 win either. Bryant also beat Bayside in a non-league game and Bayside is No. 7. I don’t get that one, either.
I do believe they got Tottenville and Wagner right at the top. McKee/Staten Island Tech, though, is not No. 10. That’s way too low. I know a lot of people didn’t think MSIT should be No. 4 like I had the Seagulls, but No. 10? Staten Island is the top borough in the city and the only teams MSIT lost to were Tottenville, Wagner and Construction in a non-league game. In boys basketball, Brooklyn is king and Thomas Jefferson, Boys Girls and Lincoln were seeded Nos. 1, 2 and 3, respectively, this year.
That, though, is nothing compared to the Madison-Construction situation. This seems to happen every year and I wonder every year how PSAL officials can have such different opinions than everyone else involved. It’s hard to figure out.
This current regime started more crossover games and I like them. I like seeing Madison and Tottenville play in the league season. I like seeing Construction and Francis Lewis go at it. But what’s the point of those games if they’re going to be ignored at the seeding meeting?
And going even further, why even bother having coaches come to the seeding meeting and putting together a bracket when PSAL officials just go back and change it anyway? Softball isn’t the only sport where this has happened recently.
As always, the PSAL leaves us with more questions than answers.
