Sometimes, Loras Schulte says it can be a struggle to put together the bracket for the 12-team IABA State Baseball Tournament.
That was not the case this year.
"The tournament really pretty much seeded itself," said Schulte, president of the IABA. "The host teams are always placed at their home sites and with six (Iowa Valley League) teams in the tournament, two teams had to be assigned to each site."
IVL champion Williamsburg and the runner-up Stars are the top two seeds. Williamsburg will open tournament play at 2 p.m. Saturday in Watkins against the Calmar Cats, following the opener between the Muscatine Flames and Watkins at noon.
The Stars, last year's IABA champion, will begin play at noon in Walford against the Muscatine Road Runners, followed by the Allison Cats against Walford.
"It was really close between those two as the top two seeds, so they get the advantage of playing closer to home," Schulte said. "That meant Red Top and Norway had to play at the site in the Quad Cities."
The Quad Cities 76ers are one of three teams from the Black Hawk Valley league in the tournament. The 76ers won their league title and they will open with Norway at 2 p.m. at Douglas Park in Rock Island, Ill. Red Top will meet the Whiteside County Wildcats of the Mississippi Valley League in the noon opener in Rock Island.
All 12 teams will play two games on Saturday. Three teams will finish with 2-0 records on Saturday. The team from that group that allows the least amount of runs will receive a bye into Week 2. Three teams will finish 0-2 on Saturday and be eliminated.
Schulte said Rock Island was selected as the Sunday host in Week 1 for a couple of reasons.
"First off, Norway wasn't available to host the first weekend so we were a little limited with options," he said. "Quad Cities expressed an interest in hosting and their site was available both days.
"We always try and move things around anyway, so this was a good opportunity for them to host. They have an excellent facility down there."
Any team with two or three wins after play on Sunday will advance to play the next weekend in Norway, with all of the Week 2 games on that historic field.
The final two days (or three, if necessary) will be held Aug. 11-12-13. Four games will be held Saturday. The number of games Sunday, beginning at 1 p.m., hinges on the results of Saturday's action. A final game could end up being played on Monday night in Norway at 7 p.m..
"We don't ever force a team to play three games in a day," Schulte said. "If one of the 2-1 teams beats two of the undefeated teams on Sunday, there would be another game on Monday."
Here is the schedule for the first weekend.
IABA STATE TOURNAMENT
SATURDAY'S GAMES
FIRST ROUND
At Walford
Game 1: 12 p.m. - Stars vs. Muscatine Road Runners
Game 2: 2 p.m. - Allison Cats vs. Walford
Game 7: 4 p.m. - Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser
Game 10 6 p.m. - Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner
At Watkins
Game 3: 12 p.m. - Muscatine Flames vs. Watkins
Game 4: 2 p.m. - Williamsburg vs. Calmar Cats
Game 8: 4 p.m. - Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 loser
Game 11 6 p.m. - Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner
At Rock Island, Ill.
Game 5: 12 p.m. - Red Top vs. Whiteside County Wildcats
Game 6: 2 p.m. - Quad City 76ers vs. Norway
Game 9: 4 p.m. - Game 5 loser vs. Game 6 loser
Game 12: 6 p.m. - Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner
SUNDAY'S GAMES
At Rock Island, Ill.
Game 13: Noon - Game 12 loser vs. Game 7 winner
Game 14: 2 p.m. - Game 10 loser vs. Game 8 winner
Game 15: 4 p.m. - Game 11 loser vs. Game 9 winner
Game 16: 6 p.m. - Game 10 or 11 winner vs. Game 11 or 12 winner (2-0 team with fewest runs allowed receives bye to second weekend)
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