Tonight's game is the big one

[Times photo: Janel Schroeder] Kule Watson enjoys the fun during the home run derby portion of Zephyrhill's fan appreciation night Friday.

By JOHN COTEY

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 17, 2000

Welcome to the Class 4A state championship baseball game between No. 1 Jacksonville Bishop Kenny and No. 2 Zephyrhills in a battle of two nationally ranked foes featuring pitchers who are 9-0 and 10-0, respectively and ... huh? What?

What's that you say? Tonight's game is only a semifinal? Seriously?

Well I'll be darned, it sure is.

What a shame.

Officially, it is a semifinal. But let's face it: In a perfect world, tonight's semifinal would be for the championship.

Heck, some say it is.

"I think whoever wins this game will win it all," Pasco coach Ricky Giles said.

If you take a look at the other brackets, not even a potential Sarasota-Merritt Island final in Class 5A -- probably the best possible championship matchup -- compares to what the Bulldogs-Crusaders game offers.

You get Bishop Kenny, ranked No. 1 in Class 4A all season, and Zephyrhills, No. 2 for every week but two.

In a semifinal.

You get Bishop Kenny, ranked No. 2 in the country by Baseball America, and Zephyrhills, ranked No. 8.

In a semifinal.

You get two teams with a combined 64-3 record. Three losses! Three!

In a semifinal.

And you get two aces, either Bishop Kenny's Pat Rumble or Matt Marti (both are 9-0) against Brett Cimorelli, a perfect 10-0.

In a semifinal?

Darn shame.

"I think any club coming in can beat the other guy, particularly at this stage," said Bob West, Bishop Kenny coach. "When you've been down there and you've played in it before, you know that.

"Are there times you wish the brackets were a little different and stuff like that? Oh yeah. You hope it works out, and you figure you've got to win two to win the state championship. You play what might be a better team first or second. They're all going to be good."

We have seen this many times before.

One semifinal pits two extraordinary clubs against each other while the other semifinal pits two clubs that shouldn't be able to beat the other's winner.

Not that Jesuit, which lost to Zephyrhills and No. 3 starter Danny Wardell 7-0 is terrible. Nor by any means is Royal Palm Beach.

But combined, they have just 40 wins compared to 33 for Bishop Kenny and 31 for Zephyrhills. Combined, they have 22 losses compared to just three by Bishop Kenny and Zephyrhills.

To get here, Jesuit didn't beat a team that had fewer than 10 losses, and Royal Palm didn't beat a team with fewer than nine. Both are big surprises who weren't at all dominating during the season. At one point late in the season, Jesuit had a losing record.

There is no doubting 4A's marquee matchup, and it ain't the Tigers and Wildcats.

"When we look at the other two teams in the final four, Jesuit, we've beaten them before, and we don't know much about the other team. But we've heard they aren't great," Wardell said.

"Bishop Kenny is pretty much the state championship, whoever wins that game. Everyone is asking why do you have to play that team now, and you have to tell them they're in our bracket."

This reminds me of the NBA semifinals, where truly the two best teams in the NBA will meet when Portland and Los Angeles play in the Western Conference final.

The winner of that series will be the NBA champ no matter who comes out of the East.

We've seen it in the 1996 NCAA Final Four when Kentucky beat Massachusetts to face the Syracuse-Mississippi State winner; in the 1998 Major League Baseball playoffs when the Yankees and Indians met in the ALCS; and in the 1996 NHL playoffs when Colorado beat Detroit in the West and went on to sweep Florida.

And we'll see it again tonight at Legends Field.

Welcome to what should be the best Class 4A game of the year.

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