A PIAA rule about open gyms has tripped up some WPIAL baseball and softball teams this spring.
The rule prohibits PIAA teams from “participating in any team competition” in the 10 days leading up to their first official preseason practice. Four WPIAL teams violated the rule by holding a joint workout with another school during that window, WPIAL executive director Scott Seltzer said.
The WPIAL board on Monday scheduled a March 24 hearing for Baldwin baseball, one of those four teams, after it ran afoul of the rule for the second year in a row, Seltzer said. Baldwin changed baseball coaches since last season.
Seltzer said the Highlanders held a workout with Central Valley during the 10-day window, while New Castle and Laurel softball players also got together. The WPIAL scheduled a hearing only for Baldwin since it was considered a repeat occurrence.
Other teams in violation will lose a scrimmage next year and be placed on probation, Seltzer said.
The PIAA rule says: “Within 10 days prior to the start of each sports season, no student enrolled at a PIAA member high school may participate in any team competition on a team on which all other players and at least one coach are also affiliated at that student’s school.”
Seltzer said the PIAA rule prohibits a situation where batters from one school might face pitchers from another in the 10 days prior to March 3, the date baseball and softball teams officially opened practice this season.
The rule was enacted in 2019 and applies to all sports. Seltzer said the PIAA board at the time considered enacting a stricter 10-day shutdown in which no open gyms would be allowed, but some PIAA districts found that too restrictive.
Instead, the board settled on banning “team competition” in those 10 days.
The PIAA defines an open gym as a school making its gymnasium or other athletic facilities available to all students enrolled in the district. The out-of-season workouts are limited to two hours per day and three days per week during the school year. Weight training and conditioning workouts, if voluntary, are permitted daily.