In getting prepared for the state baseball playoffs, sportswriters from around the state send in their coverage area teams’ records. From those contributions, a master record list is compiled. It’s done as a courtesy to help us all out in our coverage.

So when I was perusing through teams who made the playoffs and their records on Wednesday, I had to do a double take when I saw one team’s 0-12 record.

It’s never bothered me to see teams have a .500 record in the state playoffs. Heck, even if some teams were a couple of games below .500, I could understand that as well. Those teams could have played against bigger schools.

But a team that’s 0-12 has no business being in the postseason. Yet, that’s exactly what happened in last weekend’s first round.

Georgiana, which competes in Class 1A, Area 4, reached the playoffs as area runner-up to Sweet Water. The other team in the area was supposed to have been J.F. Shields, but it is my understanding that school didn’t field a baseball team this season.

Thus, Georgiana earned the area runner-up position by default – with its 0-12 record.

The Panthers were pitted against Area 3 winner Brantley during Friday’s opening round. As you can imagine, the scores were lopsided. Brantley (14-15) swept the doubleheader 12-1 and 21-1 to advance.

Now here’s what bothers me so much. There’s all sorts of teams around the state which have outstanding records (Class 6A Oxford’s 31-7 mark comes to mind), and some teams – such as the Cherokee County Warriors – compete in such deep areas that only the top two qualify for postseason.

I don’t know what the solution may be, but having teams that haven’t won a game making the postseason is embarrassing.

After all, postseason is supposed to be the best of the best playing each other, isn’t it?

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Speaking of the baseball playoffs, here’s a couple of little tidbits of info courtesy of fellow sportswriter David Mundee of the Dothan Eagle.

Only one Class 1A baseball series went three games – Spring Garden at Hackleburg. In that series, won by Hackleburg, a grand total of 22 runs were scored (12 by Hackleburg and 10 by the Garden).

The margin of victory throughout the Class 1A playoff pairings added up to be a total of 328 runs. There were four series decided by 31 or more runs, including a 60-run, two-game margin for Maplesville against Edward Bell (28-0 and 32-0 wins for those keeping score).

Five games were decided by 20 or more runs, and over half (17 of 33) the games were by nine runs or more.

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Switching gears to football, former Cherokee County Warrior and Jacksonville State football standout Maurice Dupree is fitting in quite nicely with his new team, the Southern Indoor Football League’s Alabama Hammers.

On Thursday, Dupree caught 11 passes for 220 yards including five touchdowns receptions against his former team, but the Alabama Hammers fell to the Columbus Lions 80-55 and dropped to 0-5 in the SIFL.

Dupree had a 23-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter from quarterback Bill Ashburn. Ashburn found Dupree open for scores from 50 and 15 yards in the second quarter. The pair hooked up again in the third for two more scoring strikes (22 and 48 yards).

The Hammers were down at the half 34-26 but grabbed a 35-34 lead with 9:31 remaining in the third quarter. Columbus took control from there to improve their record to 5-1.

The Hammers play their home games at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville.