Since 1965, Kansas high school baseball and softball teams have only been allowed to play 20 regular season games. On Sept. 13, that changed.

The idea of adding more games to the season has been brought up many times to the Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA). Before the September vote, the last vote took place in April when the KSHSAA board of directors gathered, and that vote ended up being 33-32 in favor of remaining at 20 regular season games.

On Sept. 13, KSHSAA hosted its first board meeting for the school year. During the topics of their discussion, the idea of playing more regular season games was again brought up for a vote. The addition of the 26 games was proposed by the Sunflower League and Olathe West athletic director Pat Butler.

This time, the vote for baseball was a clean sweep of 42-17, and the vote for softball was another clean sweep of 48-11, so the regular season for both sports was increased. High school teams across the state are now allowed to play up to 26 regular season games.

People have different opinions about this change. Considering the votes, many people wanted this change to happen, but some others didn’t want to see the change. Some people viewed the change as baseball and softball getting more emphasis than other sports, while another view was that the athletes in different sports were not getting an even amount of playing time.

According to Paola principal Jeff Hines from the KSHSAA article, “We need to promote the belief system as school administrators and member of the board of directors that all activities that we offer at our member schools are important. We have a duty to make sure that one sport or activity doesn’t take precedence.”

However, Hays High School head softball coach Abby Gillan said, “This is a long overdue change for baseball and softball in Kansas. We have been behind the surrounding states in the number of games for decades. This helps close the gap in playing time between our student-athletes and their counterparts in other states. I think this is a positive change because it gives student-athletes more opportunities to develop.”

Many athletes and coaches are ecstatic for this change. This gives all the athletes an opportunity to play more games and get more experience with the game.