This weekend’s PSAL Class A baseball best-of-three semifinal series will be played at Brooklyn high school fields Old Boys High and Lafayette after being held at local college or minor league facilities over the previous decade.
No. 2 Grand Street Campus and No. 6 John Adams play Game 1 Friday at 3:30 p.m. at Lafayette while No. 4 George Washington and No. 8 Telecommunications will match up Friday at 3:30 p.m. at Old Boys High. Both Games 2s will be held at Lafayette with Game 3s, if necessary, also at Lafayette.
The semifinals were held at MCU Park, home of the Brooklyn Cyclones in Coney Island, each of the last two years, but Cyclones director of new business development Gary Perrone said the PSAL approached him after the stadium was booked. MCU Park will host the city championship game Friday, June 8, Perrone said.
Department of Education spokesperson Margie Feinberg said “the heavy rains and inclement weather limited options for PSAL semifinal games. As a result, we had to arrange for them to be held at high school fields.” The PSAL attempted to play at St. John’s, Feinberg said, but was told “rain was the problem when the PSAL needed to sign up and use the field.”
However, the CHSAA is playing at there all week and a St. John’s source said the PSAL never expressed an interest in the Queens school’s facilities.
PSAL baseball commissioner Bob Pertsas declined to comment.
“I guess other things are more important to them,” George Washington coach Steve Mandl said. “It’s kind of weird. I was shocked when they said that. … A lot of kids love [playing at the bigger fields] – you play all season. You think you’re going to play at MCU or at Staten Island [Yankees home Richmond County Bank Ballpark].”
By contrast, the Class A softball semifinals were held at the College of Staten Island, a previous location for the baseball semis, and the PSAL Class AA, A and B basketball semifinals were all held at colleges. Also, the football championship game has been held at Yankee Stadium the last two years and Class AA basketball finals have been played at Madison Square Garden for a long time. Baseball, meanwhile, last played at Yankee Stadium in 2010.
“I don’t think it’s a good message,” Grand Street coach Melvin Martinez said when asked what it’s telling coaches and players about the sport’s significance. “I find it unbelievable this is happening.”
While disappointed about the location of the games, Martinez’s immediate concern is elsewhere.
“I can’t let it bother me or my players,” he said. “We’re just focused on the ultimate goal to win the championship.”