And Now … It is time to get out and play

By Rob Burns • April 5, 2017 1:30 am
(BRENDAN CARL | THE DAILY WORLD) Record rainfall in March have turned baseball and softball fields into muddy, sloppy, slippery surfaces unfit for play. Traditionally, there is less rain in April and fields like this will need the dry weather to drain the water to make them playable.
(BRENDAN CARL | THE DAILY WORLD) Record rainfall in March have turned baseball and softball fields into muddy, sloppy, slippery surfaces unfit for play. Traditionally, there is less rain in April and fields like this will need the dry weather to drain the water to make them playable.

The month of March has played havoc on nearly every Twin Harbors spring sports team, making life and schedules difficult to handle.

However, there is a ray of sunshine on the horizon — if tradition holds, we’ve experienced the worst of the rain and should be clear to play after Spring Break.

Over this past March, rain totals at Bowerman Airport in Hoquiam registered a record amount of rain — 15.94 inches, according to the National Weather Service. The March total is nearly 3 inches more than last year and just under 9 inches more than the normal amount of rain for this time of the year.

Also, to make matter worse, there were just two days of sunshine in the month of March, leaving the rest of the month in a wet, gray funk. Judging by Twitter and Facebook, there are plenty of Harborites who are more than anxious for a sunny day just to walk in, let alone do something in. And, for good reason, too.

Since October, Hoquiam has had 70.27 inches of rain, just over one inch of rain more than last year, but just over 18 inches more than normal for this time of the year. That is a wet winter and baseball, softball and tennis teams paid the price. All three sports have been indoors, except for the sporadic gray day, since the start of the season.

With that record amount of rain, fields are oversaturated and swampy. Even with a big break in the weather this month, which is coming, it’ll take another week or two for all of the fields and courts to dry out. Thus, there will be plenty of rush orders of “quick dry” to get games going.

Nearly every Harbor baseball and softball team have had venue changes and postponed games in March, even in boys soccer — Hoquiam moved its match against Seton Catholic to Rottle Field in Montesano due to a soupy, sloppy Sea Breeze Oval.

This month, traditionally, should be much better for local and regional teams to start getting out and playing. In fact, the record for the month of April in Hoquiam is 7.40 inches — half the amount of March. The last two years saw just 3.22 and 2.68 inches of rain in April and that’s good news.

Two stick-and-ball teams that have played through the rain are Montesano and Ocosta’s softball teams. On the other end of the scale, Aberdeen’s girls tennis team is in for a marathon month.

Montesano softball has taken full advantage of Rottle Field’s turf field to get games in. On Monday, the Bulldogs took on Lakeside-Nine Mile Falls on the turf and returned in the rain on Tuesday to host Castle Rock.

“We haven’t been on our field yet, because it is so saturated,” Montesano head softball coach Pat Pace said. “Isn’t this nice? You have to improvise when you can. We want to get into the dirt. For one, I honestly believe we have more speed on the dirt with our cleats than on the turf with tennis shoes.”

Pace also noted that the turf field has been good fortune for his junior varsity and C Squad teams, which normally don’t reschedule rained out or postponed games.

“Those are games you don’t get back and they’ve been playing just as much as we have,” Pace added. “This (turf) has been great for us, because our JV and C Squad teams have more games played than most varsity teams in Western Washington. I’m happy that our administration allows us to play here.”

Ocosta’s softball team has used a liberal amount of “quick dry” agent to get its field at Dorland Park in Westport ready to play. The team may have a bit of a special gift for getting games in, since the Wildcats sit at 9-0 overall this season. Only four of their nine games played so far were at home, but all of them were in the rain.

One sport that the rain will play a devilish amount of havoc on is tennis. Even a small blast of rain at the wrong time can wipe out a full slate of matches. For Aberdeen’s girls tennis team, that means the month of April will be full of dual meets.

Beginning on April 11, the Bobcats will attempt to get their entire 13-dual meet schedule in in 17 days, including a doubleheader with Tumwater and Centralia at Sam Benn Courts, Aberdeen courts and Miller Junior High School on April 12. Right in the middle of this quick schedule, Aberdeen will play five matches in five days, leaving no room for error or rain or postponements.

Even with a traditional dry April, that is a tough ask for a team that has to play everything quickly.

Once the baseball and softball teams get back out of the gyms and onto the dirt, it’ll take a bit of an adjustment period for everyone. Seeing the ball outside at the plate, adjusting to the bounce on the dirt and grass in the infield and judging fly balls in the outfield will all become important.

However, even with the adjustments, the extra cost to get the field dry enough to play on and added dry cleaning bills for muddy and soaked uniforms, it is time to get outside and play.

Rob Burns: (360) 537-3926; rburns@thedailyworld.com; Twitter: @RobRVR