Outside time at last

As is often the case in the Bay Area, spring provided an early tease for fans of outdoor sports — before winter returned to cancel dates and delay the fun. Baseball, softball, soccer, golf and tennis all were called upon to reschedule contests; but Ashland Oredockers Athletic Director Brian Miller, with 17 years of experience managing program schedules, reminded athletes and supporters alike that the unexpected is to be expected this time of year.

“The spring for us in the Northwoods is always like this,” Miller said. “The difference this year, which added frustration for our coaches and kids, is that we had such a mild winter. We could have played soccer, baseball, softball and tennis in February; then we got the typical season.”

According to Miller spring is the most difficult season to schedule, with baseball and softball providing the greatest challenges for the ‘Dockers because they share fields with Northland College and this alone requires an extra measure of coordination. But all HON Conference schools struggle with field conditions in baseball and softball, where natural drying from sun and wind aren’t quite swift enough to get the job done. Thankfully the conference is collaborative, and switching games is a strategic reality. The Ashland Fieldhouse has also been an invaluable asset, according to Miller.

“I cannot emphasize enough what a game changer the fieldhouse is,” he said. “It allows our kids ample practice space, right after school, even when we have poor spring weather. Before this facility it was not uncommon for teams to be practicing past 9 p.m. Now we are able to have the fieldhouse open for community youth programs after 6 p.m.”

While some recently rescheduled games may have been omitted, a full schedule of baseball and softball games appears today, complemented elsewhere by the regular schedules for all other spring sports.