5 Division Format Coming To Girls Softball
Saturday, October 10th, 2015 -- 7:30 AM
The WIAA Board of Control acted on a series of spring sport coaches' recommendations involving the season regulations for those respective sports, and passed the 2015-16 operational budget at its October meeting on Friday.The most notable change to the spring sports is the approval of five divisions for the State Softball Tournament beginning in the spring of 2017. The unprecedented model maintains eight Division 1 teams with four teams qualifying in Divisions 2, 3, 4 and 5. The executive staff will develop a workable time schedule to accommodate the five-division format.
In addition, softball will experience two changes to the 2016 season regulations. The first removes language requiring hitters to warm-up in the on-deck circle located behind the batter. On-deck hitters will now warm-up in front of their team's dugout. The other change eliminates voting for tournament groupings in all divisions, placing teams in sectional half-bracket groups only.
The Board supported a pair of recommendations in baseball. Beginning in 2016, video conferencing may be used en lieu of attending seed meetings in-person for schools located more than 80 miles from the meeting site. The second rule change eliminates voting for spring baseball tournament groupings in Divisions 2, 3 and 4 to place teams in regional groups only.
The Board gave its approval to the 2015-16 operations budget of approximately $8.3 million, which is a slight decrease from last year's budget. The budget continues to be largely driven by Tournament Series revenues and expenses, which is significantly influenced by weather and match-ups. The new budget reflects a steady flow of revenue from tournament gate receipts and acknowledges a conservative increase in expenses.
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