Rainy Weather A Strikeout For Local Ball Teams

For Upper Cumberland baseball and softball teams this spring, it’s been less about balls and strikes and more about fronts and shortwaves.

A rainy past two months have meant little time to practice and some challenging conditions.

“It’s stop and go and baseball is a game of rhythm where you want to play four times a week at least, but you know the other team is probably doing it too,” Cookeville High School Baseball Coach Brent Chaffin said. “That’s the only thing that keeps us sane, knowing that nobody else is able to get a lot of outdoor work.”

“We take a lot of ground balls in the parking lot and we’ve got them conditioned to believe that if they can field a ground ball in the parking lot, they can field one on dirt.”

Chaffin said the strikeout with preparation began before the season.

“We were on the field one time before our first scrimmage, two times before our second scrimmage, and had two scrimmages rained out,” he said.

York Institute Athletic Director Bruce Winningham said the weather has also been difficult on teams at his school in Fentress County.

“It’s been really difficult for all of our spring sports. This is my third spring being athletic director and it’s by far been the most challenging spring we’ve had,” he said. “We’ve been able to rework our baseball schedule and have got most of our games in. Softball has lost several games where they’ve not been able to play.”

Winningham said the baseball team has relied on doubleheaders in order to get the games in. One soccer game will need to be rescheduled and at least one track meet was even rained out.

“It’s been a tremendous challenge to get these games in due to the rain,” he said.

Cookeville’s Chaffin said several years ago, his team played the majority of its region games within the final two weeks of the season. A repeat?

“We haven’t had any district games rained out, which is the most important thing,” he said. “Baseball coaches…their favorite TV channel is weather channel. We just keep it on weather channel, listen to the radio, and try to keep hunting around for the best weather that we like.”

Four weeks remain in the season. District tournaments start the month of May. Right now, local teams just want to play ball.