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Juggled schedules, pitching in the forecast
By TOM WILLIAMS
BOARDMAN
As frustrating as this week’s rainy weather is in creating havoc for the high school tournament baseball and softball schedule, there is a silver lining.
It’s not next week, also known as district tournament week on area diamonds.
Dave Smercansky, the Boardman High athletic director who oversees the four baseball district tournaments at Cene Park that begin next Monday, is grateful that this week’s downpours are happening during sectional week when many more fields are used. In sectional games, the higher seeded teams get to play on their home fields.
“Absolutely” was Smercansky’s response on Tuesday when asked if the current forecast would create headaches if it persisted past Sunday.
“Next week, it becomes very, very difficult scheduling-wise, but we have to get them in before the regionals begin,” Smercansky said of the district contests.
Once the tournament begins, playoff games take precedence over the regular-season schedule. Tuesday’s rain postponed area baseball and softball games until today. It’s possible that some fields are so wet they won’t be playable before Thursday.
By the way, there is more rain in the forecast.
Next week, 12 district games are scheduled to be played at Cene Park over five days. Before they can be played, the district qualifiers must be determined.
Mooney, Ursuline, Struthers and Lowellville play their home games at Cene Park so the Struthers showcase for baseball could be a busy place this weekend if the sun doesn’t reappear soon to dry the grass.
The schedule can get tricky for a school like Mooney, which is holding its prom on Friday. The Mooney baseball team is scheduled to play Niles on Thursday in a Division II sectional final. If it’s rained out, the game won’t be rescheduled for Friday.
“An important school function [like prom] comes first,” said Smercansky, who added playing a makeup game on Saturday or Sunday is a possibility for the Cardinals.
“The coaches and athletic directors are aware that these games then take precedence,” Smercansky said.
Springfield baseball coach Bob Beam, who led the Tigers to the Div. IV state championship game last June, said rainouts don’t necessarily help baseball pitchers who worked the previous day.
“It depends on the player,” said Beam who said his ace last year, Todd Kibby, loved to pitch on consecutive days.
“When you get a day off, sometimes it’s a little tougher because the arm gets a little rest,” Beam said. “When you pitch back-to-back, adrenaline is a factor.
“It depends on the player and it depends on how many pitches he threw the previous day.”
High school pitchers are limited to 10 innings every three days.
A player who could benefit from one more rainout is Fitch pitcher Tyler Hartman, who tossed six innings in Monday’s 10-3 Div. I win over Chaney. If today’s Fitch-Howland game is postponed again, Hartman would be eligible to toss 10 innings on Thursday.
Softball pitchers have no innings limits and can throw on consecutive days.
And the logjam of games that a steady rain could produce at Cene Park can’t happen in softball. Except for the JAGS Complex in Jefferson which is hosting a Div. II and a Div. III district, softball sites have just one division competing (three games at each site).