SEC baseball and softball games begin to count in final standings

The Southeast Conference has had two full nights of would-be league play since the Coronavirus lockdown ended and Iowa high school baseball and softball got underway, but games didn't start counting in the final standings until Monday night.

Ft. Madison's sweep of Washington in softball on Monday began the second half of the original SEC schedule. The first half of the SEC season was interrupted by the COVID pandemic, so the conference decided to make the first round of league games only count on the teams' overall standings.

The conference made the decision to make sure there weren't any teams who were being unfairly treated by having more games against the top of the league than the bottom, or getting an unfair advantage if they played the bottom teams twice and the top teams only once. This way, every team will get two games against everybody else.

'As a coach, I walked into (the first games) as kind of like a scrimmage,” said Mt. Pleasant baseball coach Brent Broeker after a split against Ft. Madison last week. 'We didn't have time to practice. We didn't know what we really needed to work on. We found some things we really needed to fix. It's more like a scrimmage so we can fix those things, and when the second half of conference starts, we'll be ready.”

Every team will have 10 conference games total, two against each of the opposing SEC squads. That is, assuming all games are played and nobody gets conference games canceled.

The teams were able to use their first two SEC doubleheaders to sharpen their skills before the real wave of conference games begin. Coach Broeker says the time was valuable, especially since many players weren't planning on having a season after the 2020 spring sports schedule was axed.

'The kids pretty much thought the season was over,” Broeker said. 'We didn't get to throw for the two months before the season started, so they've only been on the bullpen mounds, probably four times.”

The quick transition was easier for some teams than others. The Fairfield softball team, for example, brought back the vast majority of last year's varsity squad, and that helped the Trojans go 4-0 in 'pre” SEC games, sweeping both Washington and Keokuk.

'It would have been a little different if we didn't have most of our starting lineup back,” Trojan coach Bob Bradfield said. 'We're sharper, maybe, than some teams, just because we have everyone back. You don't have to go over each situation as much.”

With Burlington joining the league this season, teams would have played four more conference games than usual in the 2020 season, for a total of 20, instead of the usual 16 that the other five teams are used to playing. Instead, the SEC squads are playing half as many, which makes every game that much more important.

The official SEC schedule was set to end on July 6, the last scheduled round of conference play. Rainouts have already played their part, postponing most of Monday's games. As of now, the final games of the SEC slate in softball will still be July 6, but the final baseball games will be the rescheduled Fairfield-Burlington doubleheader, in Fairfield, on July 10.