High school softball indoors? That truly is March Madness

March Madness is a term usually reserved for the state basketball tournaments.

But when the Daily Herald's John Leusch reported earlier this week that upward of 20 high schools in the Northwest suburbs were going to play indoor softball games that will count on their records and against the total number of games they can play in an IHSA season, all I could think of was madness.

It's no secret I'm a softball guy and love a good game anytime, anyplace.

Outdoors.

While the value of softball training indoors is immeasurable, my experience is that playing games indoors is next to worthless.

Yet, many high school coaches have entered their teams in a week of high school games that will be played at the McCook indoor facility. And the IHSA is sanctioning those games as part of those schools' schedules.

Madness indeed.

Softball is a sport meant to be played outdoors, at least in my opinion. Travel teams play indoor games during the winter to satisfy IHSA competition rules and that's fine, but high school teams playing indoors in games that really count? Sorry, with all due respect to Illinois Bash organizer Jim Goranson, and to all the fine coaches who have decided to play at McCook in March, I just don't like the idea.

Why, you ask? Well, for several reasons.

Let's start with the facility itself. It's dark. Outfield fences are shorter than regular fields. There's a 40-foot roof. Rules are altered for indoor games in a variety of ways. Safety has to be a concern. It's just not softball in the traditional sense.

The advocates offer that playing indoors will beat the spring weather that often cancels a lot of games in late March. OK, so if it's raining and cold in April does that mean coaches will be scrambling to make up games indoors? And so what if a couple games get canceled in March? There's usually time to make them up, and if there's not then so be it. The IHSA allows for 35 games prior to the state tournament series. Teams that make the Final Four under our new 4-class system would play, if they maxed out, 42 games. Under the old two-class system they would play 43 or 44 games.

Now scroll through the records of all the state champs and runners-up from 2000 through 2009 and you'll find that in most every season those teams finished with between 39 and 43 games.

Last year was a bad one, the worst of any since 1999. Most teams in the state title games played between 33 and 37 games (one played 30 and one played 39).

But that was one year out of 10.

What also comes to mind is seeding. Are coaches supposed to put as much weight behind a game played indoors in March as opposed to a game played outdoors on a sunny 60-degree May day? The winners will want to, while the losers won't.

If teams were playing these games in indoor facilities that were made for softball you wouldn't be reading this. But most of these facilities are built for golf or soccer or other indoor activities that don't require the spacious outdoors softball does. Heck, the McCook Web site doesn't even offer a link for softball, yet it is hosting high school softball games.

Keep the game outdoors where it belongs. Or better yet, take the money you're spending to play indoors and use it to start a travel fund, then schedule a trip to central or southern Illinois.

At the very least, games played indoors should have an asterisk placed next to them on each team's schedule, and the IHSA softball advisory committee should take a serious look at recommending a "spring training" season in which there would be a maximum number of exhibition games allowed that wouldn't count on a team's record or against its 35 allowed games.

But without some kind of restriction on indoor games, I see a Pandora's box about to be opened.

Good job: Kudos to Hampshire girls basketball coach Sue Ellett and Hampshire's National Honor Society for raising just over $500 for the Fight4Zach Foundation at last Saturday's Hampshire-Burlington Central basketball Pack the Place night. Ellett coached Morrison, the Burlington Central grad who is fighting brain cancer, when Morrison played seventh grade basketball in the BC middle school system.

Good job II: Kudos also to Burlington Central senior Stephanie Holthus, who was named the White team MVP at last month's Under Armour All-American girls volleyball match in Tampa, Fla. Holthus, who has trained with the U.S. Girls Youth National team, is a Northwestern recruit and was the 2009 Daily Herald All-Area volleyball captain.

Good job III: Congrats to Elgin High assistant boys basketball coach Jeff Howard on his induction Saturday night into the St. Charles High School Athletic Hall of Fame. Howard, whose sons Marcus and Quintin both played at Elgin High, was one of the best pure basketball players I've ever covered. A 1974 St. Charles grad, he graduated as the fourth leading scorer in Saints' history and played on three straight regional championship teams coached by the legendary Ron Johnson.

Golf news: Larkin graduate Jon Duppler has been named the new head golf professional at Elgin Country Club. Duppler, who became a PGA Class A pro in 2007, replaces Scott Sandfort, who is now the Director of Golf at Algonquin Country Club in St. Louis. Duppler, who finished 11th in the IHSA state tournament his senior year, attended Coastal Carolina University, He became Elgin Country Club's first assistant pro in 2005. The Elgin Country Club, founded in 1901, is the fourth oldest private golf facility in Illinois.

Softball news: Burlington Central senior Juliette "Jet" Kein has accepted a softball scholarship from NAIA Central Methodist University in Fayette, Mo. Kein is the heir apparent to the pitcher's circle at BC this season, replacing the graduated Mackenzie Scott, who led the Rockets to third place in the Class 3A state tournament last spring. Scott is enrolled at Elgin Community College and expected to pitch for coach Anne Vogt's Spartans this spring.

Condolences: Our thoughts are with the Russell family on the passing of their mother, Pat Sliwa. Her children, Michelle, Chrissy and Jason, are all former standout athletes from Dundee-Crown. Michelle, the leading scorer in D-C girls basketball history, is currently the varsity girls basketball coach at D-C and Jason, who will be inducted into the Judson University Athletic Hall of Fame Saturday night, is the varsity boys assistant coach at St. Edward.