Cost of cancellations

Nolan Swenson, Co-Sports Editor

Several baseball and softball games have already been postponed due to recent rains. With a season that moves so fast and focuses on a variety of competitors, the head coaches of both teams said it has affected the pacing and skill of their programs.

Softball Head Coach Scott Beyer described the detrimental effect of losing momentum. “I was afraid of going into our Tuesday game after a weeklong break,” he said, adding that it is difficult to make up for missed games. “Practice can’t replicate that, but we did great.”

Baseball Head Coach Kevin Tomasiewicz shares a similar point of view to Breyer.
“Baseball is about consistency,” he said. “In the majors you play every day, in college, it’s every weekend and then some. When you get out of the rhythm it hurts.”

Recently, baseball has fallen on hard times for schedules. “We played double headers and then we went nine days without games, and that inconsistency can hurt,” Tomasiewicz said. “Hitters don’t get that rhythm.”

Despite some reschedules, both teams have avoided long swaths of cancellations, but it has become difficult with the inconsistencies of weather and the return of snow. A recent weather channel forecast predicts that we may have seen the end of the 2021-22 winter, hopefully allowing for a smooth rest of the season for all of UWO’s spring athletes.

Both programs will return Friday, with softball facing off against UW-Whitewater away, and baseball against Finlandia University at home.