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Continued Rainstorms Wreak Havoc on Spring Schedules
Since the spring sports seasons kicked off in mid-February, Southern California has been continually bombarded by the ever-returning flow from several “atmospheric rivers,” as the seemingly unceasing rains have covered the area.
While the grass on the fields that these spring sports teams inhabit has become greener, it’s made more of a headache for coaches and athletic directors in what is already the busiest season on the high school sports calendar.
Whereas local youth leagues have been able to add weeks on to the end of their schedules to make up for the lost dates, teams at Dana Hills High School have to abide by the CIF-SS and CIF State calendars, which have firm dates for the end of their regular seasons and playoffs.
Early in the season, it’s mostly nonleague or tournament games that have been set aside, and while losing some nonleague games can be disappointing, they ultimately don’t have an effect on CIF-SS playoff qualification like league games do. Many coaches and players even refer to nonleague games as “preseason” games.
However, unlike in previous years when there’s been an uptick in precipitation, this run of rainstorms has lasted deeper into the season. Now with an early Spring Break next week and teams fully into their league schedules, teams are going to have to employ creative scheduling maneuvers.
Again, due to the firm end dates for CIF-SS and a late Winter Break, South Coast and Sea View League teams got a taste of this in the winter season, with basketball and soccer teams playing condensed schedules of three games per week with Monday-Wednesday-Friday or Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday schedules.
For baseball and softball, there will likely be those condensed schedules, with the extra option of doubleheaders. Doubleheaders are a staple of those sports and happen in early-season tournaments all the time, but it is unusual for their league slates.
Where the creativity really hits is for sports such as golf or track and field, where, instead of dual matches/meets with two teams, there is the possibility of combining for tri-matches/meets with three teams competing against each other at a single site.
As the rain was still falling in Dana Point at press time on Thursday, March 30, the schedule will continue to adjust as Dolphin teams compete for playoff positions.
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