A Cloudy Start
This year, South Jersey high school baseball and softball coaches talked about how the preseason was staged in great weather. The NJSIAA allowed teams to begin practicing on March 10.
Many coaches talked about getting in a lot of work during the preseason due to nice weather. Yet once the season began, the weather began to go south and it could have an impact on both sports—more so baseball due to the pitching.
In softball, a pitcher can often throw several times a week, while in baseball, pitchers usually go once per week.
Either way, the early season inclement weather has had a major impact.
The weather turned worse toward the end of March. This season teams were technically allowed to start after having six full practices.
Most teams didn’t begin that soon, but several baseball teams opened in the last week of March.
Still, more began in April and that is when the showers began.
It wasn’t only the rain.
There were several softball and baseball games that were postponed on April 10 due to the cold. The temperature in many areas that day didn’t get above 47 degrees, with the wind whipping.
There have also been some nice days that teams couldn’t play because their field had to dry out.
One of the interesting games played was between Haddon Township and Haddon Heights softball on April 7.
On that day, where it rained in the area for several hours, virtually the entire baseball and softball schedules were cancelled.
Yet Haddon Township has a turf field, used mainly for soccer and lacrosse, but it was converted into a softball field in a pinch.
The teams played on a day where the game-time temperature was 45 degrees and it felt like 40 due to the winds, according to the weather service.
The rain had stopped by game time, so the players had to battle the cold, but pitchers continued to have trouble gripping the ball.
Yet, they got the game in with Haddon Township winning 6-2.
That was actually key for both teams. Due to previous postponements, that was the opener for Haddon Heights.
Another case in point is Cherokee baseball. Through the first two weeks of the season, the Chiefs had played just two games, winning them both.
Besides dealing with weather, Cherokee had a senior trip to contend with.
That is another thing about the spring, teams have to work around senior trips and proms. Virtually every team doesn’t schedule games while the seniors are on their trip.
For instance, Gloucester Catholic, the consensus No. 1 baseball team in South Jersey, went 10 days between games due to the senior trip and postponed games due to weather.
There are many non-league games that won’t get made up, but teams have to play their conference games, so teams will face some late-April, early May schedules where they may have to play four or more games a week.
Pitching depth will really be a key for many South Jersey baseball teams.
And while pitchers can throw much more often in softball, having too many games in a row, will test the endurance of even the top hurlers.
This week the weather is expected to change for the better. For many teams, it will be a welcome site to what has been a dreary (weather-wise) beginning to the baseball and softball seasons.
Photo: Haddon Township and Haddon Heights - Jordan Strauss (pitcher) of Haddon Township / Marc Narducci
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Author: Marc Narducci
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