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MORRIS — For the last 20 years, the Morris Ladies Shootout has been a staple of the summer. The annual tournament enters its third decade of competition on Tuesday, June 13 and Wednesday, June 14 at the Morris Community High School fieldhouse and main gym.
The field, as it has for most of its existence, will consist of 32 teams in four pools of eight. On Tuesday, each team in each pool will play against the other three teams in its particular pool.
The two teams with the best records in each pool during pool play will be placed in the championship bracket for Wednesday's double-elimination bracket play, while the bottom two finishers in each pool will be in the consolation bracket, giving all 32 of the teams a guaranteed six games over the two-day span.
It's a formula that teams and coaches have come to like, and that's one of the reasons why so many keep returning.
"The teams like that we guarantee them six games," Morris coach Kate Carey said. "That, and the fact that we play in the middle of the week, so they don't have conflicts with other sports or summer activities. We haven't had a lot of problems with filling the field. We had a couple that didn't come back this year, but we also had a couple more that were interested, so we gave them a spot in it and it worked out."
The scheduling committee, headed up by Carey and her coaching staff, try to place teams during pool play against teams that they might not normally see during the regular season. Special care is taken to try and not match up conference schools against each other if at all possible, and travel times are also taken into consideration as well. Teams from as far as Rock Island and Moline are in the field, as well as local favorites Morris, Minooka and Coal City.
For its part, Morris tries to schedule itself for play later in the day in order to allow for the parents of the players to be able to see their kids play after work. Playing later in the day also allows Carey, who doubles as the tournament coordinator, to ensure that things are running smoothly before having to turn her attention to her coaching duties.
The girls on the Morris varsity team will also perform double duty as they will help with running the scoreboards and clocks during the morning session before handing those jobs off to members of the freshman and sophomore teams for the afternoon. Members of all teams will also be helping in the concession stand as well, which will be set up in the fieldhouse lobby.
"The preparation for the shootout is going well," Carey said. "The girls know they are going to have to work hard all weekend and they are ready for it.
"The teams send us what times they prefer to play and we do our best to accomodate them. This year, we were able to give everyone either their first or second requested time frame, which is good because no one is upset about when they have to play.
"And, we also do our best to put teams together that wouldn't normally play each other during the regular season. All the coaches appreciate that. It lets them see something different instead of the same old teams they see in conference play and lets them see different styles that teams use throughout the state."
Morris will begin play at 3 p.m. with a game against Canton, followed by a game at 5 against Pleasant Plains and a 7 p.m. tipoff with Oswego. All three of the Lady Redskins' games will be in the fieldhouse.
Coal City, meanwhile, plays in the early session, with games against Kankakee at 8 a.m., Lincoln-Way West at 10 a.m. - both in the fieldhouse - and Sycamore at noon in the main gym. Minooka takes on DeKalb at 9 a.m. in the fieldhouse, Peotone at 11 a.m. in the fieldhouse and Andrew in the main gym at 1 p.m.
Other teams in the field are West Aurora, Lincoln-Way East, Plainfield South, LaSalle-Peru, East Aurora, Antioch, Romeoville, Kaneland, Joliet West, Hononegah, Geneseo, United Township, Rock Island, Plainfield North, Lockport, Bishop McNamara, Bloomington Central Catholic, Moline, Oswego East, and Ottawa.
Wednesday's bracket play will begin at 8 a.m. with the championship bracket tipping off and the tournament championship game at 1 in the main gym. Consolation bracket play will start at 2 p.m with the consolation title game at 7 in the main gym.
The event also coincides with the Morris Fireman's Carnival, which will be set up in the main parking lot at MCHS. Fans are encouraged to park in the Goold Park parking lot across the street from the high school or the fieldhouse lot behind the school. There will be signs near the school advising where to park.