By CRAIG ADKINS
For The Reporter
Editor’s note: Reporter sports writer Craig Adkins contacted each of the Sectional 8 baseball coaches to get their thoughts on the competition and intensity of the sectional. Today’s responses are from Justin Keever of Noblesville.
Describe Sectional 8 from your standpoint.
Sectional 8 is the most competitive, random, and unforgiving bracket in the state, at all levels of the state tournament. It possesses the most top-to-bottom talent and skill in a five-day tournament in the IHSAA. You’ve got six elite programs, all capable of making deep runs, packed into one sectional. It’s not just competitive, it’s high-end baseball right out of the gate. It is very well attended, with a semi-state atmosphere.
Why is it so difficult to advance out of Sectional 8?
You essentially have to win a semi-state just to advance to a sectional championship game. Sectional 8 is more of a purge than anything, as you’re going to see five teams eliminated who are all good enough to make the final four or better. It’s not about who’s the most complete team or who’s been the most consistent; it’s about who best navigates the random bracket those five days. And that’s tough to swallow when there’s that much talent in one spot, grouped solely on arbitrary geography, and absent of merit. It is a shame that only one team each year gets to experience a sectional championship, amongst so many other worthy champions.
No matter what the sectional draw outcome is, what keeps Sectional 8 such a gauntlet and a “meat grinder?” (Eerily similar to the Hoosier Crossroads Conference)
The depth and breadth. Every team has frontline arms, talented bullpens, guys in the middle of the order who can do damage, and coaches who know what they’re doing. There’s no guessing, we all know each other. So, it becomes about execution under pressure. The draw might give you a little advantage here or there, but you’re still going to have to go through two or three legit programs. And the random nature of the bracket makes the results feel just as unpredictable as they are tough.
Does hosting Sectional 8 make it that much harder to win it? (Noblesville is the last host to win in 2014)
I don’t believe so, no. At least from our standpoint. I think that is just a correlation without causation.
How does Sectional 8 prepare you for the rest of the tournament?
I don’t think Sectional 8 necessarily prepares you for a run any more than the daily accountability of the HCC schedule. That 14-game HCC schedule gets us ready for high-end, intense baseball. The sectional certainly has a sudden-death vibe to it, which gives you the experience of increased stakes and therefore intensity.