The spring high school sports season officially kicked off last Saturday. Not many teams took advantage of the day before Easter Sunday, but the Woodland baseball squad was one of them.
The Hawks suffered a 5-3 loss in a key contest against Wolcott, and instead of getting right back out onto the field Monday to rebound from the defeat, Mother Nature dealt another defeat not just to Woodland’s baseball team but to all high school teams in the area.
An unexpected 6-inch snowstorm that ripped through the area Monday morning followed by rain on Tuesday and Wednesday forced a complete wipeout of the schedules each day across all sports. Wet fields and more rain expected throughout the rest of the week could make the first full week of spring sports season look like a disappointing washout.
“We got the game in on Saturday, so we were really looking to get things rolling,” Woodland baseball coach Mike Kingsley said Tuesday night. “We didn’t get the outcome we were looking for, and now we’re going into Wednesday and can’t get back onto the field.”
The Woodland baseball team was the only local squad to get in a contest through Tuesday. Monday’s schedule (including games for Woodland baseball, Naugatuck softball, Woodland boys tennis, Naugatuck girls tennis, and Woodland girls tennis) and Tuesday’s schedule (including contests for every local squad except the golf teams) were wiped out.
Most teams had pretty good luck during the preseason. Aside from baseball’s pitchers-and-catchers week being mostly confined to indoors, most preseason practices at Woodland and Naugatuck ran outdoors with good conditions.
“Up until (Monday) we had not been inside at all, so we were right on track to be in good shape for (Tuesday’s) opener,” Naugy baseball coach Tom Deller said. “Then (Monday and Tuesday) came along and blew it up.”
Baseball and softball teams had to share their gyms for practice Tuesday — and probably more times throughout the rest of the week. While something’s better than nothing, indoor practices leave a lot on the table.
“As long as we can get outside and practice, even if it’s not a game-ready field, it won’t make a difference,” Deller said. “If we’re going to be in the gym for any length of time, it definitely takes a toll on how well you perform in a game situation.”
That’s especially the case for Woodland’s baseball team, which has been forced to stew on that opening-day loss in its gym.
“You can’t work on what we learned that we needed to work on,” Kingsley said. “There’s only so much you can simulate in the gym. You lost, so you want to get back on the horse right away. It’s hard to get the kids into a rhythm. It’s like you’re right back to spring training.”
There’s another, perhaps forgotten, side to weather-induced chaos. While varsity contests are usually postponed and rescheduled for a later date, oftentimes junior-varsity contests are canceled and never rescheduled.
“For teams with smaller rosters, rescheduling varsity games means postponing or canceling JV games,” Woodland softball coach Loren Luddy said. “Younger players lose chances to play.”
Varsity makeups might also force teams to cram in three or four consecutive days of games, when the weather finally allows for it. That might appear to more severely impact baseball teams, whose pitchers are limited by both mechanics and pitch count, but softball pitchers feel it, too.
“A pitcher may need to pitch three days in a row in 40-degree weather or four games in five days to start the season,” Luddy said.
