There are different answers to this question. Some say it’s an advantage to have the Sunday opening game. Others say it’s actually a disadvantage. Still others say it makes no difference.
The JUCO World Series opened play Saturday with the first four games of the double-elimination tournament. With 10 teams in the bracket, that leaves the final opening-round game for Sunday. At JUCO, that game is played on Sunday night, after two elimination games that morning and afternoon. The districts that play the Sunday night game rotate every year. This year, it pairs the Western and Central districts, which means Cochise College against Neosho County Community College.
In the losers bracket Sunday, Palm Beach State plays Kaskaskia College at 10 a.m. MST, and Walters State-Navarro is at 2. The losers of those games will be ousted; then Cochise and Neosho take the field for their first game of the tournament at 7:30 p.m. MST.
Everyone admits the format is far from perfect, but tournament directors would rather not have elimination games played in front of the large evening crowd. The quote that can’t really be attributed, because everyone says the same thing, is “Two teams are going home before two teams even play.” Then, they add, “but it’s the way it’s always been.”
That’s not the way it’s always been, but it has been done that way since the last time Cochise College made the trip to Grand Junction in 1989. In fact, 1986 was the year the tournament switched to its current format. From its beginning to 1977, there were only eight teams in the bracket. When it became a 10-team tournament, all five opening games were played on Saturday, until 1985. The last game sometimes wouldn’t wrap up until 2 a.m., especially if there were weather delays or never-ending games. Residents in the area complained about the late-night noise and bright lights.
Rick Sheley, known in and around Section L as “JUCO Rick,” has attended the Junior College World Series every year since the 1970s. He argues for the Sunday night game advantage.
“If you win Sunday night, four teams are gone before you play your second game,” Sheley said. “You win that Sunday night game, you can’t finish worse than sixth place.”
Sheley looked back at his programs from the past 22 years and noticed that a Sunday night team finished in the top three in 10 of those years. Six of those 10 won the championship, two came in second and two finished third.
The argument that it’s a disadvantage would primarily come into play at the end of the tournament. If there are three teams remaining, the bye into the championship game is determined by the number of games each team has played in the tournament.
In the latest NJCAA Division I poll, the Apaches (49-17 overall) rank fourth, while Neosho (35-25) moved up from “receiving votes” to No. 14. The Western District has a strong reputation at the Junior College World Series, with its teams typically finishing in the top three. Like any head coach would, Cochise’s Todd Inglehart has weighed the benefits and the drawbacks of the Sunday night game, but he doesn’t put much stake in either. If you go 0-2, he said, it doesn’t matter anyway.
“When we were in Sterling, people were wondering if the rain delay was good or bad,” Inglehart said, referring to the Western District championship game that was delayed in the fourth inning due to weather and resumed 24 hours later. “As I’ve been thinking about it a little while longer, I don’t sweat the small stuff anymore. You’re going to play, you’re going to finish. You’re definitely going to play two games here, so be ready to play that first game.”
Cochise has been in Grand Junction since Wednesday. The time leading up to game day was filled with pre-tournament activities like youth clinics, official photos, a banquet and team picnic hosted by the Grand Junction Rotary Club. The team attended a couple of games on Saturday to get a feel for the stadium’s atmosphere.
“It has been long,” Inglehart said. “But I’ll look back and say, that was awesome, leading up to it. I think it’s been a good distraction from baseball, take their mind off the game, but it’s team-oriented stuff. That’s good. That’s what you’re playing for: your team.”
Freshman shortstop Austin Nelson said it wasn’t easy to sit in the stands Saturday and watch most of the rest of the teams on the field. But as he looked at the thousands of fans around him, he said the wait would be more than worth it come Sunday.
“I can’t even explain it,” he said. “This isn’t what I thought it would be, because it’s better than I thought it would be.”