Heritage Generals coach Steve Chattin gets relief from the heat in front of a water mist fan set up to ease the heat near the lower fields at The Summit Softball Complex Thursday afternoon.Since the National Softball Association’s A Division Eastern World Series began play at three local ballparks Tuesday, perhaps the only things that have risen faster than the heat index every day have been the sales of fresh-squeezed lemonade and flavored shaved ice.
“[That’s] the only way to beat the heat,” said manager Howard Hale, whose Funtime Foods company is selling concessions this week at The Summit of Softball complex.
The National Weather Service projected Thursday’s high to be near 97 degrees with heat index values in triple digits. The predicted south wind of 5 mph didn’t seem to help much.
The only rain that’s affected anything tournament-related this week was the pop-up thunderstorm at Monday’s opening ceremonies at Camp Jordan that slightly cut short featured speaker Jessica Mendoza’s talk and lessened the number of entrants in the skills contest. Lack of rain has been good for the schedule-makers, but not for cooling things in the afternoons.
The Chattanooga Parks & Recreation Department has placed four mist fans at Warner Park and five at The Summit this week. Two sit side-by-side in front of the concession stand serving fields 1-4 at The Summit.