Prep Baseball Report Illinois is excited to announce the first-ever PBR Illinois Bracket Challenge for the upcoming 3A and 4A sectional playoffs that start Wednesday, June 1. This bracket challenge was inspired by our friends at PBR Alabama, who created the first iteration in early April for the Alabama high school playoffs. This will be a March Madness style tournament that allows for each participant to make their own picks and predictions for the remaining field of 32 teams across both classifications. Each correct selection will earn an allotted point value based on the round it was made in and the individual with the most points at the end of the tournament will be crowned the bracket winner.

FORMAT, RULES, & PRIZE

These rules and the format of this challenge should be fairly straight-forward and easy to understand, especially for someone who has participated in ESPN's Tourney Challenge for March Madness. This should be fairly similar in terms of how you can win, standings and much more. Two separate bracket challenges have been created, one for each of the two classifications, on officepoolstop.com that are open and joinable for anyone to participate in. This challenge is completely FREE to play and there will be no money involved for entry or for the prize winner.

Let’s dive into the bracket’s rules:

• The winner is determined by who accumulates the most combined total points for the combined 3A and 4A brackets, meaning that in order to earn more points, you should enter into both brackets and make picks into both brackets 

• Only one entry into each bracket is permissible; you can’t have multiple entries into the 3A or 4A bracket per person, it must be just one

• The sectional games begin on Wednesday, June 1st, which means all entries must be submitted by 1 PM of that date. 

• All picks must be made for your bracket prior to the deadline, including selecting a winner from each matchup and ultimately the champion for that specific classification.

• Also be sure to enter your tie-breaker before submitting your bracket, which will be the combined total number of runs scored in that classification's finals series.

The winner of the bracket challenge will receive a collection of PBR gear! We will connect with the winner after the playoffs have concluded for shipping addresses and such.

POINTS SYSTEM

Like it’s done for March Madness, correctly choosing the winner of a bigger matchup means more points because that contest is of greater importance. Below is an outline of how many points a correct answer is worth for each round of the bracket:

Sectional Semifinal: 1
Sectional Final: 2
Super Sectionals: 4
State Semifinal: 4
Championship Game: 10

Once again, the winner of this challenge will be the person with the most combined points for ALL classifications. When the playoffs have concluded, we will go back and add the totals and the person who has the most combined points throughout all classifications.

STEPS ON HOW TO JOIN

In order to join each classification's bracket challenge, there are a few simple steps that you need to follow to enter. If you for some reason run into any questions, please feel free to reach out and we will do our best to assist. It will be much easier to do these steps on a laptop:

1. You will need to create an account to join, so CLICK HERE to head to the website and create your own account.

2. That link will take you to where you can register and create a new account. Once again, it's completely free to join and play. You will just need to enter your first & last name, email, username, password and your birth date. Once you've filled out all the necessary information, click "Sign Up" to finish creating your account.

3. Once you've finished that and your account is created, it should pull up a "Join League" page and will ask you for a League ID and Password. Each League ID and Password is provided in the section below.

4. From there, you will be able to enter a League ID and Password to join each specific classification's page. Once you have entered that information, it will put up the main page for that bracket challenge.

5. Click the blue-highlighted "Bracket" on the main page and it will pull up the full bracket for you to access and make your picks.

6. Once you have made every single pick for that bracket and entered the tie-breaker, you must click "Submit Bracket" to have all of your picks saved and entered into that challenge. NOTE: If you accidentally click the wrong team, you can click the "Reset" button next to "Submit Bracket" to reselect your picks.

7. Once you're done and have clicked "Submit Bracket" for that bracket challenge, click the "My League" drop down button on the top right of the page. Click "Join a League" to pull back up the previous page where you can enter another classification's League ID and Password.

8. Repeat Steps 4-7 to enter the rest of the classification's bracket challenge.

LEAGUE IDS & PASSWORDS

Class 4A 

League ID: 41957
Password: pbril2022

Class 3A

League ID: 41958
Password: pbril2022

If you have any questions about the bracket challenge or are having difficulty submitting an entry, please contact Diego Solares via email at [email protected]. Best of luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor!

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