When it comes to feedback about the 2025 Section V Class AAA Baseball final, a decision to bring the best-of-three game series back in 2026 made sense, according to the region’s high school baseball coordinator.
“It was very well received,” Section V baseball coordinator Jason Bunting said. “People really liked it.”
A lineup of three teams in Section V Class AAA this spring was another reason to have that sectional tournament end with a short series.
A requirement of at least two wins for a team to win a sectional championship instead of one, is slightly more acceptable and a better look.
“One of those teams would play one game in sectionals,” Bunting said if Class AAA also used the single-game format in the final round, like the eight other classifications in Section V. There are no plans for the other Section V tournaments to go to a series format.
Results of regular season games in 2026 determines whether McQuaid, Rush-Henrietta or Fairport is the No. 1 seed and one of the Class AAA tournament finalists. The No. 2 and No. 3 seeds play a one-game tournament semifinal to figure out which team takes on the No. 1 seed in a best-of-three game series.
Game 1 of the sectional final series is at the home field of the No. 1 seed. The lower seed hosts Game 2. If there is no sweep, Game 3 is played at ESL Ballpark, home of the professional Triple-A Rochester Red Wings team.
“It was three good games,” Bunting said about the 2025 sectional final between McQuaid and Fairport.
McQuaid, the No. 1 seed in the 2025 Section V Class AAA Tournament, defeated No. 2 Fairport, 3-2, in Game 1 of the series at Monroe Community College. Fairport rebounded to win Game 2, 10-3. The Knights defeated Fairport, 11-6, at what was then named Innovative Field.
“I thought it was actually pretty cool, because it shows teams’ depth, pitching-wise,” McQuaid shortstop Dom Corona said after Game 3. “It’s not just lose and go home.
“You can have a bad game. You could have a great game. The first game (in our series with Fairport) was a little bit boring, but the second game (at Fairport) we got crushed. It kind of gave us the slap in the face that we needed to come back and win the third game.”
James Johnson, who grew up in the city of Rochester, has worked as a full-time journalist covering high school sports for the Democrat and Chronicle since 1996. He has become a two-time winner of the Rochester Press-Radio Club’s Sports Media Excellence Award. Follow him @jjDandC on X (Twitter) @jjDandC on Instagram. Please also contact him at JAMESJ@Gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Popular 3-game final is back for Class AAA baseball teams in 2026
Reporting by James Johnson, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
