The TSSAA says high school baseball and softball teams could have officially begun practice Monday. Mother Nature responded with a “not so fast, my friend,” in another dose of rain, sleet, snow and bone-penetrating wind.
“You get all excited for that first day and it’s inside, but that’s part of it,” Lookout Valley baseball coach David Dinger said.
“We went to tarp the field at 1 p.m. on Sunday, and it was too late. The snow came in earlier than predicted,” Ooltewah baseball coach Brian Hitchcox added. “This year is the worst I’ve seen, and it’s the worst in years according to guys I have talked to. Nothing is drying out. It freezes and thaws, freezes and thaws.”
Hitchcox, whose wife Erica gave birth to their second son Monday, has been stressing about more than the weather. The Owls are trying to move into a new indoor facility, but that facility behind the third-base line was still without an electrical inspection or power. The coach is hoping that will be accomplished today.
There is an advantage to having an indoor practice facility, but only so much.