Lynn is a sophomore from St. Petersburgh, Florida.
He is sports editor for The DePauw.
CHRISTA SCHROEDEL / THE DEPAUW
For athletic teams like track and field, tennis and basketball, the indoor facilities on DePauw’s campus makes the winter weather no big deal.
While they get to make the most of the dry conditions inside, teams like softball and baseball are forced to adjust to the elements as they prepare for their upcoming Spring seasons. And the results of those adjustments cause their early season records to suffer.
For the softball team, this is the second straight season that they’ve opened their schedule with a mid-February trip to Memphis, Tenn. for a tournament at Rhodes College. Once those weekend games wrap up, the Tigers don’t play again until the beginning of March.
After amping up practice to prepare for the tournament, the Tigers are then forced to go dormant for a few weeks before seeing live action again.
In a pitched sport like softball finding a rhythm can play a big role in a players’ performance and the significant amount of time off certainly doesn’t help.
Whether the cold weather played a role or not, the Tigers came out of the gate with a less than stellar 3-5 record, although they recovered to win a North Coast Athletic Conference title and competed in the NCAA regionals at the end of the season.
The harsh winter that hit Greencastle last winter also plagued DePauw’s baseball team.
Head coach Jay Martin was forced to change venues for the team’s first few games of the season. The Tigers were supposed to host Hanover College in a weekend doubleheader on Saturday Mar. 15. The two teams still got together but the game was moved to a field in Westfield, Ind.
The Tigers lost both of those games by a combined score of 17-3 and committed nine total errors on the day. Those losses were part of a four game losing streak that the Tigers opened the season on.
The baseball team is also forced to move practices indoors to the indoor track facility. Inside, there are batting cages and a pitching mound is set up. The ceiling is tall enough to allow for some outfield practice and the space is long enough for long toss. However, the ground surface isn’t an ideal replacement for grass on ground balls and it’s hard for hitters to see live pitching.
What can be done about it? There’s really nothing that can solve the problems. Maybe teams can be better about making adjustments to adverse conditions but that can be hard to do when trying to practice in 20 degree weather.
So as things start to get ramped up for all of the Spring sports, the conditions outside could play a big role in teams’ early season success.
After going 4-0 at the tournament in Memphis, the softball team is off until the weekend of Mar. 7 when they play games down south in Georgia. Their first home game in Greencastle isn’t until Mar. 14.
For the baseball team, they begin their season on Feb. 28. Their first eight games of the year are all technically “home” games but will be played once again in Westfield. The Tigers won’t actually play a game at Walker Field until April.
Let’s hope for an early Spring.