OBSERVER Photo by Matt Spielman
Cassadaga Valley pitcher Hunter Johnson delivers a pitch during a game in Sinclairville last season.
SINCLAIRVILLE — Faced with a difficult choice at the end of last school year, the Cassadaga Valley Cougars baseball team forfeited a postseason contest due to a scheduling conflict.
Due to that last-minute decision, a future team could be penalized with a postseason ban next spring if a Section VI ruling remains unchanged.
According to Section VI postseason rules, if a team forfeits a contest after postseason brackets are finalized, the team will be ineligible for postseason play the following year.
As it stands now, that is the case for the 2025 Cassadaga Valley baseball team.
“The kids did nothing wrong. It’s not anything that the Class of 2025 did,” said David Christy, a supporter of Cassadaga Valley athletics.
Submitted Photo
Pictured is the 2024 Cassadaga Valley Cougars varsity baseball team. Due to a scheduling conflict, the team forfeited its playoff game, which leaves this season’s team ineligible for the postseason unless a Section VI rule is changed.
“… No matter how you look at it, the Class of 2025 had nothing to do with this, and them being punished for it is just not fair.”
The Cassadaga Valley Central School District appealed the ruling, but the appeal was denied.
Still, the District is hopeful that Section VI will change its mind before the next baseball season begins in the spring.
“We are definitely looking forward to teaming up with Section VI to try to improve the rule,” said Cassadaga Valley Superintendent Tammy Mangus. “We’re going to be working closely with other members of the Section VI committees in order to figure out where we want to go and if there is a possible positive solution.”
The Cougars had a 7-10 record last year under head coach Al Roller. Six seniors were on the team, with five underclassmen. The team was set to host Randolph on Friday, May 17 in the opening round of the Section VI baseball playoffs.
But that date presented a problem: Cassadaga Valley’s senior trip clashed with the scheduled playoff game. Because of the scheduling issue, the six seniors on the team were forced to choose between their senior trip and one last home game on the baseball diamond.
Christy stated Cassadaga Valley’s coach and athletic director both were in contact with Randolph in the days leading up to the game. Christy believes Randolph was open to working with Cassadaga Valley to reschedule the game, but that it was Section VI that did not allow the game to be moved.
“It wasn’t that Randolph showed up Friday afternoon and Cassadaga’s coach was standing there with his hands in the air, saying, ‘Sorry, I don’t have enough guys to play, get back on the bus and go home.’ They literally tried to mitigate the problem, and Section VI wouldn’t let them do that,” Christy said.
Mangus, who took over as district superintendent in June, also believes that both districts did make an effort to reschedule the contest to avoid the conflict, but a date was unable to comply with regulations from Section VI regarding rest days in between contests.
In the end, the senior trip won out. With an 11-man roster, the five other players on the team were left out of any reward for their season.
Christy is concerned the ruling could damage the school’s ability to field a team moving forward. With six players graduating from last year’s team, only five players might return this year with varsity experience. Cassadaga Valley merges with Falconer for many of its sports teams because it cannot sustain a program itself. With no postseason to look forward to, the school’s athletes could potentially participate in another sport, or none at all.
“It could destroy the entire program,” Christy said.
Christy stated he has not been in contact with anyone from Section VI regarding the decision. He took a similar position to Mangus, stating, “I understand rules are rules, but the fact of the matter is, Cassadaga and Randolph did try to fix this, and Section VI wouldn’t let them.”
Missing out on a postseason game to end the year is not unique to Cassadaga Valley. In Section VI, 12 teams opted out of the Section VI postseason — 11 teams from the Buffalo division, along with a winless Lackawanna team. Three winless teams did not opt out of the postseason – Pine Valley, Lewiston-Porter, and Cleveland Hill. However, Cleveland Hill also forfeited their contest – against Fredonia – after the fact, just as Cassadaga Valley did.
Cassadaga Valley anticipates three returning players from last year’s team to play their senior season this upcoming year – Jordan Swanson, Logan Hayward, and Bradley Windnagle. The rest of the team this year will be comprised of underclassmen. But because of the Section VI rule in place, those three seniors could be playing their entire senior year without postseason play as a potential outcome.
Mangus acknowledged that “rules exist for a reason.” She noted that “there needs to be some sort of repercussions” for teams that bow out of postseason play at the last minute.
Section VI gives teams the opportunity to opt out of the postseason prior to the brackets being finalized without penalty. However, once brackets are finalized with teams seeded based on power points accumulated throughout the year, the penalty is put in place to deter teams from making last-minute decisions that impact their opponent and other teams within the bracket. By not doing so, transportation and official assignments are impacted, along with a potentially skewed bracket because of seeding implications. Specific to baseball, a team that wins via forfeit also benefits from not using a pitcher to advance, with pitch count restrictions limiting the arms each team has at its disposal.
“We don’t disagree that a rule is needed,” Mangus said. “We’d just like to team up to find a positive solution.”
Rather than continuing to appeal the ruling from Section VI, Mangus said the District will be working throughout the school year to “make things right” to find what she hopes will be a “more positive consequence.”
Through several conversations with representatives from Section VI, the District remains hopeful that a compromise can be reached so that a future team is not penalized for the decision of a past team.
“We’re just trying to do the right thing for all sides,” Mangus said. “… We want to make sure that there’s a more positive path forward in the future. We don’t know if we’re going to be successful, but we’re going to try.”
Section VI Executive Director Mark DiFilippo did not respond to multiple inquiries for comment by the OBSERVER.