IT’S A CLASSIC

There are many gems in the world of Central Valley Sports, too many to mention in just one column. But I’m going to write about one of them: the Fresno Easter Baseball Classic.

The tournament celebrated its 40th anniversary this year. It attracts the best teams from the valley, and a few from outside the area. There were 30 schools in it this year. Others are knocking at the door, begging to play in it next year and beyond. Crater High School in Oregon makes the eight hour drive to Fresno every year to play against the best competition it will see all season. The Fresno High baseball program, led by long-time head coach Ken Papi, runs the tournament every year and does an outstanding job. They’ve created a monster. In fact, the Classic is regarded as one of the best tournaments for high school baseball on the west coast.

The one thing that stands out about the tournament is the dominance of the Clovis schools in recent years. Clovis West, Clovis, Buchanan and Clovis East went a combined 15-2-1 in this year’s tournament, and aside from Reedley’s upset over Buchanan on the first day of the Classic, no team from the area stepped up and challenged any of them. Clovis West beat Clovis East 4-1 in the championship game. A Clovis school has taken home the Easter Classic championship trophy 11 of the last 13 years (the 2005 tourney was rained out).

In every single division one high school championship game in any sport, boys or girls, there’s almost always a team from Clovis Unified playing for the plaque. That’s why the Central-Edison valley title game in boys basketball this year was SO refreshing. That never happens. It was a nice change of pace. But at the same time, the Clovis schools have done a fantastic job of raising the bar for everyone else. If any school from the area beats a Clovis school in anything, it’s cause for celebration.

That doesn’t mean the tournament is broken. That’s far from the case. The Fresno Easter Classic has been an institution for high school athletics in this area for 40 years. A majority of the top teams play in it every year and there’s talk of expending it to 40 teams.

The Fresno Unified schools all have more tradition than the Clovis schools, and there’s no reason to believe they can challenge them again in the near future.

Bottom line: the Fresno Easter Classic is a treasured event every year. The icing on the cake would be to have the championship game at Chukchansi Park, maybe even make it part of a doubleheader before the Grizzlies game. That gesture would be the ultimate showing of respect for Coach Papi. He deserves it.

Besides, he’s earned it.

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