AUGUSTA – Brewer High School athletic director Dennis Kiah told the Maine Principals’ Association softball committee Tuesday that Brewer will no longer be willing to host regional and state softball playoff games, in part because of the MPA’s decision last week to move the Eastern Maine Class A baseball and softball games from Bangor and Brewer, respectively to Augusta.

Kiah, who is the chairman of the softball committee, made the announcement during discussion of this year’s postseason games, which concluded Monday with the Class C softball state championship game at Brewer’s Coffin Field.

“Brewer is not going to be a site so we’ll have to find somewhere else in the East to host that,” Kiah said during the regular committee meeting at the MPA offices.

Brewer has hosted Eastern Maine regional and state title games for the past nine years.

MPA executive director Dick Durost said the baseball committee voted unanimously in its meeting Monday to move the Eastern Maine and state Class A and game site from Bangor’s Mansfield Stadium to a site in the greater Augusta area. The rest of the games in Classes B, C and D would remain in Bangor.

The softball committee discussed that option for its sport but decided to table any more conversation on the issue until its next meeting, which is scheduled for Jan. 19, 2006.

The MPA announced Tuesday, June 14 that the Eastern Maine Class A baseball and softball games set for the next day would be played in Augusta, which is a more central location for the four teams involved. The softball matchup was Cony High in Augusta against Messalonskee High in Oakland and the teams involved in baseball were Oxford Hills of South Paris and Edward Little of Auburn.

The softball site was changed to Cony Park, which is the high school’s home field. The baseball was played at the Piggery Road complex.

Kiah said one of the benefits of hosting playoff games has been the money the school’s boosters can raise through concessions, but the last-minute move of one-third of Coffin Field’s games – that one-third being the schools with the largest enrollments and therefore a potentially large fan base – meant the Brewer boosters lost money on concessions.

Another drawback of hosting, Kiah added, is that hosting teams cannot hold post regular-season scrimmages on their home fields if they’re still in the postseason because they’re the only teams that can play on the field. Brewer played in four scrimmages but had to host on the junior varsity field.

“[The Brewer teams] made a lot of sacrifices over the years and I think it may be time to let someone else do that,” Kiah said. “… [Hosting games] gave us an opportunity our facilities and we’re grateful for that.”

Another issue that troubled Kiah and other committee members was the possible precedent set by the site change. He used Caribou and Presque Isle as an example, saying that should those Class B schools end up in a regional final they could ask to play at a neutral site like the University of Maine-Presque Isle rather than travel all the way to Brewer or Bangor, a 21/2-3 hour ride.

Several committee members said travel shouldn’t be an issue – it should be “an honor to be there,” said Madison High’s Colin Campbell.

“When Eastern Maine coaches from Washington County and Aroostook County hear Western Maine coaches complain they just shake their heads,” MPA assistant director Jeff Sturgis said. “That’s their reality on a weekly basis.”

Sturgis praised Brewer’s efforts in nine years of hosting. He said he even faxed a copy of Brewer’s awards ceremony script to Cony for its organizers to use during their playoff games.

“From the standpoint of the MPA, it’s a class act up there in Brewer,” Sturgis said. “Everything is well organized and run to a ‘T.'”

The committee members along with Durost and Sturgis, ended the meeting in executive session to discuss more about the decision to move the Class A games and also address a coach’s eligibility issue.

Messalonskee athletic director Brett Hoogterp attended the meeting to voice the school’s concerns about what he considered the MPA’s last-minute site switch.

Messalonskee’s softball team beat Cony and went on to beat South Portland in Saturday’s state final at Cony Park.

“For a day and a half it was focusing on, why do we have to go to a new site instead of getting ready for an [Eastern Maine] game,” Hoogterp said. “Obviously it didn’t affect us too badly but my feeling is if you pick the site, that’s the site you stick with.”

With Brewer bowing out, Sturgis asked the committee members to think about a suitable location at an Eastern Maine school for the 2006 regional and state finals. Classes B and D will have their state games at the new site.

Durost said the ideal site would be a high school field with lights that is enclosed to prevent people from walking in without paying the admission. The MPA would also need a qualified person to serve as the site director so that he or she can pull together a crew to work the games. Kiah has served as the site director at Coffin Field.

Durost said sites that feel they meet the requirements can let the MPA know.

“They can certainly call and say they would like to be considered and then ultimately this committee will make the decision,” he said after the meeting.