Winter-like conditions have sports teams scrambling

WASILLA — Today’s Colony-Houston soccer games will go ahead as scheduled, while the clash between the Palmer and Wasilla boys and girls soccer squads have been rescheduled to May 5.

Area athletic directors and coaches left scrambling by heavy snows last weekend said Monday that they’re taking a cautious approach to games scheduled for this week.

“Our field is like a big sponge right now,” Palmer athletic director Jeff Thiede said Monday, shortly before announcing that the Palmer-Wasilla games were off for today.

Colony’s varsity field, which typically receives more wind than Palmer’s Machetanz Field, is marginal, though Knights athletic director Mike Boyd said the pitch should be playable when the CHS hosts the Hawks today, beginning with the girls’ contest at 4 p.m., followed by the boys.

“It may be a little wet, but it’s soccer,” Boyd said.

While it appears soccer teams are slowly getting back to action after last weekend’s mass cancellations, the same can’t be said for local prep baseball and softball teams.

Wasilla softball coach Sue Allen said Monday that her team’s game against Colony scheduled for Wednesday is almost certainly not going to happen.

“I highly doubt we’ll play Wednesday,” Allen said.

The fields at the Bumpus Sports Complex are still extremely wet and muddy, meaning the season is still on hold as players and coaches continue to play the waiting game. Allen said things have been so wet this season, her team has yet to even get outside to practice.

That’s much the same with area baseball teams, who, after getting outdoors briefly in early April, have been stuck indoors. Boyd said the Colony baseball team is still practicing in the gymnasium.

Likewise, Palmer High’s team has been stuck indoors for much of the early season.

“We’re sick of being in the gym,” Moose coach David Combs said Monday.

The only thing that makes getting stuck playing baseball in a gym, he said, is the fact that other Mat-Su teams face similar hurdles.

“We’re all in the same boat,” he said.

The first games of the season are scheduled for May 7 at Wasilla, where head coach Shane McRee said he believes the field will be ready in time.

“We’ll probably be back out there practicing Thursday,” McRee said.

But while McRee was hopeful his team will be practicing on an actual diamond soon, that wasn’t the case Monday, as he had outfielders taking fly balls outside the school.

“We’re in the parking lot right now.”

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@frontiersman.com