Outdoor sports have struggled to maintain consistency to play throughout the semester due to rain impacting game days and practices for the teams.
Two games have been canceled this semester, one baseball and one softball game, with several others being postponed. All of the Hawks outdoor sports teams have had to make adjustments to their practices, whether it was practicing softball in the small gym, men’s soccer inside of Clark’s Court or baseball practicing off campus.
“I feel like it has affected us a lot because we’re not out on the field getting reps,” said sophomore softball redshirt Jenifer Bowen. “So half of us are with the weight trainer and then half of us are in the gym and so you don’t come together as a team when you’re split up like that.”
Sophomore softball outfielder Anissya Avendano said it was difficult to prepare for games and it wasn’t possible to simulate “live reps” without being on the field.
Baseball head coach Don Mico said the rain has made it difficult to develop a routine, but believed that there had been a good job with moving games back in response to the weather.
Mico also said the rain is not an excuse for the team to be sitting at a 2-7 conference record because everyone is dealing with the rain, so “the team just needs to be better.”
Men’s soccer head coach Ron Preble said his team has faced the difficulty of being an outdoor sport with the rain even with soccer not in season.
“We have a defensive session that you need certain equipment and all of a sudden you can’t be in that facility that equipment can be used and so you have to adapt and adjust,” Preble said. “So, there might be adjusting from outdoors to indoors and maybe even a weight room.”
Mico and Preble both said that the most important thing for their players are their classes.
Avedano said the weather has allowed her to focus more on her academics.
“I think we just have had a little bit more free time I would say because of the rain,” Avedano said. “We really can’t do anything like outside so we have to cut practices short.”
The rain has also made memories for the teams because of the situation it has put them all in.
Avendano said the rain has made memories for the team such as pulling the tarp out to cover the field. She said it was fun and something that she will miss because of the jokes her and her teammates make to lighten up the mood.
“Like someone will slip on the tarp or someone will do something and then we just all laugh at each other,” Avedano said.