Play ball.

The Alabama High School Athletic Association brought postseason play to a screeching halt last Wednesday night, when officials decided to postpone all events in the state.

The move came in reaction to the recent swine flu epidemic, which shut the doors of three school districts in the Huntsville area and followed a similar decision by the governing body in Texas — which shut down its operations until May 11.

On Thursday, the AHSAA laid out a tentative plan to start with the action again today, with the caveat that the games could be postponed even longer while the Medical Advisory Board consulted with the State Department of Health.

Following the reopening of the Madison County school districts, the association announced on Monday that it would indeed go ahead with the schedule that it has outlined, packing two weeks' worth of action into one.

The Class 1A-3A and the Class 4A-6A track and field championships will be held in Gulf Shores. The small-school meet will be held on Thursday and Friday. The big schools will begin on Friday and conclude on Saturday.

Baseball, softball, soccer and golf will all hold their season-ending events as previously scheduled.

"I want to thank our member schools, the Medical Advisory Board, our Central Board leadership, the superintendents of the Huntsville area school systems, as well as the State Board of Education and State Department of Health for helping us cope with this challenging situation," said Steve Savarese, the AHSAA executive director.

"While we apologize for the disruption of our original playoff schedule, we made the safe decision for the children of this state and also insured that students at all our member schools would have the opportunity to participate in our postseason athletic events."

---

AHSAA baseball playoffs schedule

Best-of-3 series start with doubleheaders today and, if necessary, end with a single game on Wednesday.

CLASS 1A

J.U. Blacksher (16-11) at Brantley (20-7), 3:30 p.m. Friday (1 p.m. Saturday)

TC Central (13-7) at Sweet Water (18-12), 4 p.m. (2 p.m.)

South Lamar (15-10) at Ragland (19-8), 5 p.m. (2 p.m.)

Athens Bible (24-5) at Shoals Chr. (17-22), 4:30 p.m. (2 p.m.)

CLASS 2A

Excel (24-6) at Leroy (29-3), 4 p.m. Friday (1 p.m. Saturday)

Zion Chapel (24-7) at American Chr. (24-9), 4:30 p.m. (1 p.m.)

Ranburne (18-3) at Westbrook Chr. (18-8), 4 p.m. (2 p.m.)

Cleveland (24-12) at Lexington (27-16), 4:30 p.m. (4 p.m.)

CLASS 3A

Bayside Aca. (23-7) at Luverne (23-5), 4 p.m. Friday (noon Saturday)

Dadeville (22-13) at Trinity (22-8), 1 p.m. (1 p.m.)

Hamilton (23-7) at Leeds (19-10), 4:30 p.m. (2 p.m.)

Sylvania (21-14) at Madison Aca. (26-12), 4:30 p.m. (2 p.m.)

CLASS 4A

Jackson (20-13) at Thomasville (21-6), 4 p.m. Friday (noon Saturday)

Alabama Chr. (26-6) at Bibb Co. (21-6), 4:30 p.m. (1 p.m.)

Haleyville (22-9) at Saks (19-8), 5 p.m. (1 p.m.)

Plainview (21-10) at Central-Florence (32-9), 5 p.m. (2 p.m.)

CLASS 5A

Charles Henderson (28-10) at St. Paul’s (29-4), 4:30 p.m. Friday (1 p.m. Saturday)

Beauregard (31-9) at Briarwood (26-5), 5 p.m. (1 p.m.)

McAdory (23-7) at Cullman (31-14), 5 p.m. (3 p.m.)

Southside-Gadsden (26-6) at Hartselle (42-8), 5 p.m. (2 p.m.)

CLASS 6A

Mary Montgomery (26-9) at Fairhope (32-9), 5 p.m. Friday (1 p.m. Saturday)

Prattville (23-13) at Auburn (30-7), 5 p.m. (1 p.m.)

Hoover (31-11) at Vestavia Hills (24-9), 4:30 p.m. (1 p.m.)

Oxford (23-12) at Grissom (36-4), 5 p.m. (2 p.m.)