REGIONAL—If you’ve been missing reports on spring sports action around the area in the Timberjay lately, you can blame Mother Nature. Local high school athletes are used to postponements of spring sports like baseball, softball, and golf, as winter conditions frequently linger into the early part of the season, but this year the postponements have dragged out longer than usual.
“This [spring] is probably the most challenging and frustrating we’ve had,” said Ely Athletic Director Tom Coombe. “I’m hearing the same across the board from coaches and athletic directors. The nice stretch of weather we had a couple of weeks back just teased us. Usually when we get an April snowstorm it melts in the next day or two, but this snow has lingered and there are grass fields up here that may not be played on until May.”
As of this week, most area baseball and softball fields were either fully or partially snow covered and continued cool temperatures and mostly cloudy skies the first half of the week did little to help clear the fields. “We’re struggling,” said Mark Fabish, athletic director for the North Woods School. “Our softball field, around home plate, there’s probably still have a good foot and a half of snow on the ground. And it keeps freezing at night so we’re not getting anywhere fast in terms of a melt.”
Area schools had hoped to be able to get games in this week, but when the second snowstorm in a week left at least another eight inches of snow on the ground, it quickly nixed that plan.
Coombe said he’s now “cautiously optimistic” that the baseball diamond in Ely will be ready to go by early next week, but he’s already seen similar hopes dashed this month. “We were days away from being ready when the snowstorm hit the weekend of April 15-16. That set us back two weeks,” he said.
If it’s frustrating for athletic directors, it’s even more so for student athletes and coaches, who have been stuck inside for weeks practicing in the gym. “The golfers have been hitting into a net on our stage for five or six weeks now,” said Fabish, who said he has no idea when area golf courses might be opening for the season. At this point, there’s not even a tentative date when the Ely golf course might be open. “We still have a bunch of snow on the ground, so there are no youth practicing,” said Tim Cooper, with the Ely Golf Club. “It’s a nightmare,” said Fabish. “I don’t have an answer for golf. There’s really no way to make up for missed meets.”
Track athletes have gotten some outdoor exposure, running on roads, while softball and baseball players have been able to play catch in the school parking lot on some of the nicer afternoons. But that’s been pretty limited and can’t provide the full experience of practicing on a field, noted Fabish. Mostly players have been stuck in the gym, relying on hitting practice with indoor batting cages. “We’re all getting pretty antsy,” he said.
In some cases, postponed softball and baseball games can be made up in May, that make-up window is getting more and more challenging, notes Fabish. “We already stack our schedule pretty heavily in May, so we don’t have a lot of room to add all these games back in,” he added.
Opening day for Ely baseball was supposed to be on April 11, at Littlefork. While it’s hardly unusual for lingering snow to force postponements in the first week of the season, most of which are made up in May, after three weeks of postponements as of April 28, the number of games needing make-up keeps rising.
While weather has been the big factor so far this spring, it isn’t the only challenge as coaches and athletic directors try to adjust their schedules. Even at schools like Rock Ridge, Mt. Iron-Buhl, and Mesabi East, where artificial turf was recently installed on ballfields and where snow can be hauled away, other factors have made it difficult to relocate games there.
“It’s nice to have the turf options,” said Coombe. “But it almost takes a perfect storm to get something scheduled. Field availability, an opponent, umpire availability, transportation and finally the weather that day all have to work. If one of those don’t align you don’t play which only compounds the frustration. ”
But at least there’s hope for ball players to make up some of what they’ve missed thus far. That’s less likely for students taking part in other sports.
“I really feel for our track kids and our golfers,” said Coombe. “Track meets generally aren’t made up so those that have been lost are just lost.  Again, it shortens the season for them and there are missed opportunities to compete, which is really frustrating for teams and coaches who have spent several weeks practicing.”