Iowa HS sets national baseball win streak record

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110719/SPORTS08/110719031/0/COMM03/?odyssey=nav%7Chead

Martensdale-St. Mary's wins its 84th consecutive baseball game tonight, breaking the previous record that was set by Portsmouth (N.H.) HS earlier this year.

Iowa is one of the only - if not the only - state where the HS softball and baseball seasons run through the summer. The baseball state tournament won't finish until the end of the month.

 

When I started at a small Iowa daily right before Memorial Day, I was confused as hell. My co-worker told me to go out and cover a baseball game at one the schools we covered.
I assumed it was playoffs because it was past mid-May. Nope, it was the season opener. The main thing I learned in those two summers is OFF wipes work pretty well. One field in particular was always a mosquito haven, especially after the area got hammered by floods.

 

"Is this mosquito haven?"

"No. It's Iowa."

 

Moonlight Graham approves.

 

State softball tournament is this week, and everybody gets to play three games. One of our three teams that qualified gets to play two consolation-bracket games this morning and early evening.

The heat index there was 119 degrees in the afternoon yesterday and on the opening day of the tournament, two plate umpires had to leave their games because of heat illnesses. Can't wait to see how many umpires or players drop today because they need to figure out who gets to play for fifth and seventh place.

As for Martensdale-St. Mary's, what makes the record impressive is they play in the smallest class in the state. To win that many games with a program built from a small school district says a lot about their success. Yeah, they probably play a few crappy teams. But this streak includes state tournament titles the last two seasons.

 

Is Marternsdale-St. Mary's a private school? If so, that diminishes the feat a little since I'm assuming they can recruit (full disclosure -- I'm a Catholic school kid). That being said, winning 84 in a row is still amazing. You have to figure there'd be a game where nothing went right.

 

No, it's a public co-op of several towns. St. Marys is one of the towns

 

There are a lot of people arguing that the "open enrollment" at the school is an unfair advantage, but you have to have something going in the program besides good talent to win 84 in a row. I believe there's only one other state that plays baseball and softball in the summer, but I can't think of it. You have to respect the kids that play though, they give up their entire summer.

 

What I don't understand about this is that high schools actually play their seasons this late in the summer. Are Iowa schools on year-round schedules? Not that it doesn't make sense for baseball to start in say, April and go to June since Iowa is still under snow blankets in March but I can't see how "school activities" sustain themselves on this level late in the summer.

How many other states do this?

 

It's also a school with 130 students. Open enrollment or not, they're putting together a team out of a pool of roughly 65 kids.

 

Armchair and JB can clarify this if I whiff on responding to your question about the schedule. Iowa has separate athletic associations (girls and boys). In theory, the attempt is to try to have the seasonal sports not overlap each other. Since the spring sports (track & field, tennis, etc) end around Memorial Day, there is a short break (albeit a few days) before the summer sports (baseball & softball) starts.

When baseball ends at the end of the month, there will be a few days between that and the football practice gears up. The first football games are August 19th, which is the earliest I can ever recall starting the season.

When I was in high school, August 19th was normally the first day of preseason practice for me. That was in the 1990's.

 

JB: In New York they have a temperature rule (mid-90s) and they suspend play. Happened during a regional I was covering last year. Of course you guys have a tighter time frame.