14 • THE HARRISON REVIEW • March 9, 2018
Another slow start LIVE MIKE Mike Smith
I’ve got a serious question for all my baseball and softball-playing compatriots who make their homes in the Northeast: why the heck don’t you just move down to Florida? On March 7, Winter Storm Quinn rolled through the area, dumping inches of dense, wet snow on the ground and reminding us that, while it may have been 70 degrees outside just a few weeks ago, winter isn’t quite done with us yet. And while the storm caused a lot of logistical nightmares, especially for those still recovering from last week’s nor’easter, I can’t help but think about how this will impact our local denizens of the diamond. Nobody really knows how long the snow will be on the ground—or if we’re going to get another storm before spring gets here to stay—but the fact is undeniable; high school base-
ball and softball teams don’t have a ton of wiggle room when it comes to inclement weather during the season. On Wednesday, at the height of the storm, the Twitter account of the Bronxville varsity baseball squad raised an interesting point. Most teams, at the time of the nor’easter, had had just two full practice sessions and with the regular season slated to end on May 19, that means just 73 days remain for baseball and softball. So any disruption to the schedule, like any future winter storms, can have a tremendous impact on the spring ahead. Last year, area teams, especially on the baseball side, had a very similar experience. March snowstorms, combined with new pitching rules that dictated more rest days for pitchers, saw most teams scrambling to play a condensed regular season schedule that often saw them play as many as three games in four days. That might be fine for a major league club, but for high school teams—with a limited number of arms at their dispos-
SPORTS
al—that can create all sorts of problems. If you take away the pitching aspect, these early-season storms can simply hamper the preparation of ball clubs; the less time you have out on the field prior to opening day, the longer it’s going to take for your team to play crisp baseball or softball. So it’s no surprise that local squads often opt to spend spring break down south in order to get their work in. But when they come back? It’s always a rude awakening to return to blustery 45-degree days, where even a middling fastball in on the hands can be about as unpleasant an experience as one can have. So while we all may be stuck in the Northeast for now, I’ve got plans to come back as a ballplayer from Florida in my next life. Sure, they’ve got alligators down south, but at least I’d get to get on the field before May. So I’d say it’s worth the risk.
Follow Mike on Twitter @LiveMike_Sports
On March 7, Winter Storm Quinn blanketed the area with snow just as high school baseball and softball teams were beginning their preseasons. But Sports Editor Mike Smith knows that for area teams, delayed springs are an all-too-common occurrence. Photo courtesy twitter.com/bxvillebaseball
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