The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) voted on Friday to move three of its state championship sites to Penn State. The sports being included in this move are baseball, softball and boys volleyball. This comes after the PIAA had moved the boys basketball championship from the GIANT Center in Hershey to the Bryce Jordan Center in 2007.

All four classes of the baseball championship games will be played at Medlar Field after being played at Altoona’s Blair County Ballpark for the past 5 years. The championship softball tilts will be played at the new Nittany Lion Softball Park which is in the midst of construction. This is a huge change for softball since 27 of the past 30 title games had been played at Shippensburg University. The boys volleyball championship games were played at the Multi-Sport Indoor Facility this past year and it is now the official site of the PIAA championships.

This is a great move by the PIAA. With Penn State being smack dab in the middle of the state, high school sports enthusiasts from all over the state will have an easier time making it to the title tilts. It also creates a level playing field for the teams in those games since there is usually one Western PA participant facing one Eastern PA participant for the championship. Some Eastern PA schools have been added to the Western side of the bracket after the addition of District 12 (Philadelphia Catholic League) to the PIAA in 2004. Hopefully in the future, all PIAA Championships capable of being played in Happy Valley end up here in order to create a great atmosphere and competitive fairness for the games.