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Wednesday, June 14, 2000
Title game delays run up Moody's costs
Postponements add more than $4,000 to Trojans' bill
By Matt Young
Caller-Times
So just exactly how much does it cost to win a state baseball championship?
When rain delays are involved, a title can cost a school district more than ten thousand dollars.
While Moody High School's baseball players and fans spent Tuesday recovering from the Trojans' 3-2 loss to Conroe The Woodlands in the Class 5A state championship game Monday, coach Steve Castillo had to take care of some off-the-field business.
Castillo, along with Corpus Christi Independent School District officials, had to tally the cost of Moody's five-night stay in Austin - turning in receipts, receipts and more receipts.
According to CCISD officials, the rain and the three postponements of Moody's championship game cost the school district an extra $4,170.70, for a total of $10,089.95. The Calallen Independent School District has not yet tallied its three-day trip total to Austin, but athletic director Phil Danaher said that staying an extra day cost the district approximately $2,200.
Originally, Moody had planned to spend three nights in Austin - last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday - but three straight days of championship-game postponements due to rain forced an extended stay.
Instead of leaving Austin on Saturday morning, Moody stayed until Monday night.
Some of the expenses could have been averted had Moody decided to drive back to Corpus Christi rather than stay in Austin during the postponements, said Richard Avila, athletic director for CCISD. The other three teams that had to wait until Monday to play - The Woodlands, China Spring and Yoakum - all elected to drive home.
Avila and Castillo, however, decided the Trojans should stay.
"We didn't find out until 6 p.m. Saturday that our game was being postponed until Sunday," Avila said. "The other teams decided to leave, but I talked to Steve and we decided it would be better to stay instead of drive home.
"We would get to Corpus Christi around 1 a.m. after eating dinner and everything, then having to wake up early the next morning and drive all the way back," Avila said. "So, we stay Sunday, and we find out it's been postponed again. So, then again, we have the same situation. Do we want to drive home, go to sleep and wake up and drive right back? Coach Castillo thought it was best for his team to stay up there another night, so that's what we went on."
Here are the final numbers for Moody's end of the state tournament trip:
Hotel costs: $6,948.75. Moody originally booked 15 rooms for three nights, at $85 a night. The Trojans got to Austin on Wednesday and planned to stay in Austin overnight after Friday's championship game.
With the postponements, however, Moody had to extend its hotel rooms through Saturday and Sunday night.
The rain cost CCISD an extra $2,779.50 in hotel expenses.
Meals: $3,141.20. Strictly counting the days Moody had originally planned to be in Austin, the team was budgeted to spend $1,750 in meals. With an additional eight meals because of the extended stay, it spent more than $3,000 on food, going over its budget by $1,391.20.
"If we had the gold medals to go with that $4,000," Avila said, "it might be a little easier to swallow."
Calallen also was forced to make arrangements for an extended stay in Austin. The Wildcats had to stay an extra day after their championship game was postponed until Saturday. Calallen spent an extra $2,200 because of the delay.
The Wildcats beat Port Neches-Groves, 8-6, for the Class 4A title.
"Of course, we thought it was worth it," Danaher said.
Staff writer Matt Young can be reached at 886-3702 or by e-mail at youngm@caller.com
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