High School Sports Games Get Pushed Back Due To Snowy, Frigid Weather

GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. (WCCO) - It didn't matter if you were playing baseball at the professional level or in high school Thursday. Just about every game was postponed due to wintry weather that brought snow, strong winds, and frigid cold.

It kept fields quiet and gyms popping with America's past-time.

"We were looking at windchills below 20 for gametime and with snow flying. It was 10 a.m. and it was hard snowing," said Brian Wright, head coach of the varsity baseball team at Breck School.

With their game postponed, practicing in their fieldhouse was the next best option.

But more challenges await when mother nature doesn't cooperate.

"Ideally with my 40 guys I could use this whole fieldhouse. But we've got lacrosse in here at times, we got softball sharing the space," he said.

Three games have been postponed for Breck so far this year. Not a crazy number, but one that could easily rise as stormy weather approaches in the weeks ahead. That would mean more make-up games late in the season, putting pressure on the coaching staff to navigate pitch count limits for players as the post-season approaches.

From bats to clubs, neither would be swung outdoors Thursday.

"We were thinking that hopefully the forecast for 30 mph winds was 30 miles an hour wrong," joked Michael Kraft.

He's the head coach for girls golf at Edina High School, which had to cancel their second day of tryouts due to the weather.

"Every year is different and you're at the mercy of not only the weather but golf courses opening when they think it's appropriate," he said.

Those hurdles that are partly why there's an online petition to push the spring sport to the fall.

Kraft is fully on board with that idea and feels other coaches agree.

"The courses are absolutely packed in the spring. Everybody's dying to get outside. By about Labor Day, everybody's gotten a lot of golf in. There's not quite as much pressure on the courses. So it would relieve a lot of pressure on the courses in the spring," he said.

Changing season would take much more than a petition. Kraft says a fall sport would likely have to move to spring, among many other aspects that the Minnesota State High School League would need to approve.

Until that happens the indoor grind continues for both sports, as players yearn for sunny skies and some actual "spring" in their step.

"Make use of every opportunity here inside so that when you're outside you're ready to go," said Wright.