Moving from three to four classes in baseball and softball for the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons will change Albert Lea’s postseason landscape.

“Having four classes will even things out as far as enrollment size goes,” said Albert Lea baseball coach Joe Sczublewski.

Instead of competing against 16 teams in Section 2AA — like the Tigers did last year and will this spring — the team will jump to Section 1AAA with eight teams for the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons, the Minnesota State High School Association announced on Saturday.

The idea for baseball and softball class expansion started with Minnesota’s baseball and softball coaches associations, and it received approval from several committees before it was implemented, said Chris Franson of the Minnesota State High School League.

“Recommendations come to us through our advisory process,” he said.

With the move from Section 2AA to 1AAA, the total number of teams in the section was cut in half, but the average enrollment rose from 433.5 in Section 2AA to 766 in Section 1AAA.

With an enrollment of 736 when the sections were aligned in 2013-14, the Tigers had more students than any other team in the their section. Academy of Holy Angels was No. 2 with 691.

Albert Lea added 18 students in 2015-16, and the Tigers will be the fourth-largest school in Section 1AAA. Northfield and Austin both have enrollments of more than 1,000 students and will be the largest schools in the section.

Along with the change from three to four classes, enrollment parameters were updated.

When the 2013-14, 2014-15 sections were aligned, schools with 239 to 760 students were in Class AA, and schools with 761 to 2,979 students were in Class AAA.

With the advent of Class AAAA for 2015-16 and 2016-17, schools with enrollments of 211 to 487 will be in Class AA, 488 to 1192 will be in Class AAA and 1193 and above will be in Class AAAA.

The largest shift Albert Lea’s baseball and softball teams could face between this season and next season would be to play a school with enrollment as low as 239 in Section 2AA this season and then play a school with an enrollment as high as 1,141 in Section 1AAA next season.

Section assignments are determined every two years by Franson for more than 7,800 teams based on school enrollment and geography. Competitiveness in a particular sport is not considered.

“I’ve been putting this together for 10 years,” Franson said. “I’m more like a worker bee, though. I follow the policy in our handbook.”

After section assignments were completed, they were reviewed by an MSHSL staff member, the Athletic Director Advisory Committee and the MSHSL board of directors. There are no appeals.

In addition to baseball and softball, Albert Lea has three other spring sports: track and field, golf and boys’ tennis.

The boys’ and girls’ track and field teams will remain in Section 1AA with the same 15 opponents.

Section 2AA for the Albert Lea’s boys’ and girls’ golf teams had minimal changes. Fairmont and Glencoe-Silver Lake were added for the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons, while Mankato East will move to Section 2AAA.

For boys’ tennis, Albert Lea will compete in Section 1AA. The section will have two changes starting with the 2015-16 season: Hastings will move to Section 3AA, and Red Wing will move to Section 4A.