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Logjam adds suspense to SOC baseball By GREG STILES The Southern Oregon Conference could cross into new territory Saturday when the final four doubleheaders of the season are played. Ashland, Crater, North Medford and South Medford are all tied with 8-4 records. Crater plays North Medford at Miles Field, Ashland plays at Eagle Point and South Medford visits Roseburg at Legion Field. If the four teams tied for the conference lead split doubleheaders, they'd remain deadlocked and the SOC would have its first four-way, first-place tie. "It's much more exciting going into the last doubleheader with a lot of teams having opportunities than to have one going for an undefeated season," says Bruce Howell, supervisor of secondary athletics for Medford schools. On one hand, that creates more excitement. On the other, it forces quick thinking and rapid action to resolve the order in which the teams will advance to the Class 4A state playoffs. Conference guidelines are in place for two- and three-way ties, but not four-way deadlocks. Because the No. 4 team plays a state sub-round prior to the first round, the conference athletic directors decided to draw up a two-day playoff plan that would require as few games as possible. The seeding for a four-way playoff would be determined similarly to the two- or three-way tiebreakers that are based on performance against teams below them in the standings. On Tuesday, the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds would play, and the winner would earn the SOC's No. 1 state berth and a home playoff game May 21. The loser of the game pitting the third and fourth seeds would be the No. 4 representative, playing a home game next Friday against the No. 4 team from the Pacific-9. On Wednesday, the remaining two teams would play, with the winner gaining the No. 2 state berth and a first-round home game. Howell says the athletic directors didn't want to create a pitching drain going into the playoffs. "You want to protect your No. 1 team," Howell says. "Because you have to let your pitchers rest their arms 72 hours, we didn't want the No. 4 team to have to play Wednesday and turn around and play on Friday." Roseburg is the only other team with a shot at the playoffs, but it needs to sweep South. Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4483, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.