McCallie's Daalen Adderley wears a hoodie in the snow before their prep baseball game at Baylor School on Tuesday, March 14, 2017, in Chattanooga, Tenn.Remember all those 60- and 70-degree days in February? All the early grilling, wearing shorts, fighting the pollen and actually enjoying an early-season baseball game?
It's normally the cruelest time of year for area prep baseball fans, especially in northwest Georgia, where the season started three weeks ago. This year, though, the joke was on Mother Nature, who blessed us with those unusually fine afternoons.
Well, who's laughing now?
Just as spring sports teams hit the field in Tennessee this week and Georgia teams began region play, it snowed. Calhoun visited Ringgold on Wednesday for a very early, but crucial, Region 6-AAA baseball game between two teams that usually decide the league regular-season title.
At first pitch the wind chill was in the 20s, players were huddled together and fans were buried in blankets, snuggies and whatever they could find.
Bottom line: Playing stick-and-ball sports in these conditions is no fun. But on a more serious note, can it be dangerous to the athletes, especially when there has been such little cold weather to this point?
"We didn't get to acclimate much, which doesn't help," Dalton baseball coach and former professional pitcher Rhett Parrott said. "Make sure the arms stay warm, have sleeves on and stay active between innings. We have to make sure they get warmed up properly and keep going, and anybody you bring in from the bullpen you have to make sure they are warmed up properly."
Once loose, though, a pitcher can find cold weather to be his best friend. Ever hit a ball in 20-degree weather off the end of an aluminum bat?
"I loved pitching in cold weather," Parrott said with a laugh. "As a pitcher I was always one of the warmest guys on the field. Hitting is a little tougher, and standing around makes it even more difficult."
Brent Tucker agrees and relayed a bit of advice he offered to his hitters this week: "You better square it up. Otherwise, it's no fun."
The veteran Ringgold baseball coach relies on longtime trainer Steve Carpenter to make sure his players are properly stretched before and after every game. The two approach the chilling weather very simply.
"It's just common sense, really," Tucker said. "You've got to be mentally tough. It's nothing new to baseball players. You just handle it. You stretch a little more and continue to stretch during games.
"As for pitchers, I've never really seen a difference in the arms in cold weather except they don't throw as hard. Our trainer does a really good job of stretching the guys out between innings."
Ooltewah hosted East Hamilton on Tuesday in conditions coach Brian Hitchcox summed up in one word.
"Miserable," he said. "It snowed from before game through the fourth inning and then started again in the eighth (the game went nine innings and lasted more than three hours). I wore more clothes and cold-weather gear than I did for any football game last season."
Hitchcox was concerned for his players' safety, especially as the field became slick and hard. Unlike football, which cannot be played or practiced if temperatures get too high, spring sports have no protection other than common sense.
"I think there should be a cold-weather rule like we have (in football) for hot weather," Hitchcox said. "As it is you have to consider everything and then make the best decision you can."
The current cold spell is leaving in a few days, soon to be replaced by sunny, warm days, and after that well, the cold won't seem so bad.
"By the end of the season it's 90 degrees," Tucker said, laughing. "We'll all be complaining at the end of the season about it and wishing it were cooler."
Assistant sports editor Ward Gossett contributed to this story.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6296. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.