The Observer, April 13, 2007
Volume XXXIX, Issue 24
Blast of winter weather forces cancellations
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Last weekend's blast of lake effect snow threw wrench into the schedules of the area's sports teams. The Cleveland Indians' troubles with the weather might have been the most publicized, as they had their entire opening series with Seattle wiped out and their second series this week moved to Milwaukee.
The Case athletic teams have felt the effect of the weather as well. First, the Case Invitational, scheduled for last Saturday, April 7, was cancelled days in advance as the preliminary forecast for the weekend appeared ominous. The men's tennis team had matches scheduled for April 10-11. Typically, the tennis teams move their matches indoors to the Veale Center during inclement weather. However, with the Research ShowCASE scheduled for this week, the tennis team had to cancel both those matches.
The baseball and softball teams managed play during the past week, thanks to having road games and moving home games further south to neutral sites. The softball team played its only doubleheader scheduled during the winter storm, splitting a doubleheader at Otterbein on April 9. The baseball team had its doubleheader scheduled at John Carroll on April 10 moved to April 22, and moved a previously scheduled home doubleheader to Wooster on Wednesday to play Allegheny.
The baseball team hopes that it will be able to return to its home field as scheduled, when the Denison Big Red are set to pay a visit to Nobby's Ballpark next Tuesday at 5 p.m.
"I'm sure it'll take some time," said baseball coach Matt Englander early this week regarding when the baseball field will be ready. "They key is to get the snow off first. But our field drains well, and our grounds crew does a great job of getting it ready," he said.
When asked whether he has seen weather like this during baseball season, Englander said, "Not in April. We usually get some snow in April, but it never sticks. This is the worst I've ever seen it this late in the year."
With temperatures rising above freezing in the later part of this week, melting the snow has become less of a problem. Re-scheduling all of the games missed, though, will take some time and effort on the part of the coaches.
"We [coaches] do the scheduling," Englander said. "We get on the phone with other teams. They understand what we are going through because they are having games cancelled too. It is just a matter of finding a place where you can play."
Re-scheduling games with opponents who play in area conferences can be problematic. After returning from spring break and playing UAA games in Florida, Case plays many of its games against opponents from the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) or Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC). For those teams currently in conference play, making up those games is imperative in order to determine conference records. Therefore, re-scheduling games against Case might be a lower priority.
Englander, though, does not foresee any problems.
"It's something that you face every year, and other coaches know the situation and try to accommodate," he said.
Sophomore Kevin Carney said that the players can't worry about the weather and just have to deal with it.
"We just have to suck it up," he said. "Practicing indoors now, especially after playing outdoors, is a pain, but we just have to suck it up."
All of the teams hope to return to action as soon as possible. As of press time, the forecast does not include much snow, but cold temperatures and a greater chance for rain may make returning to the field difficult.
