Teams watch; Mother Nature plays games

If athletic directors received a nickel every time they rescheduled a contest, they actually might enjoy the spring.

Tuesday's wet weather brought another round of cancellations for most outdoor sporting events.

"The past week or so, I've spent a lot of time scheduling makeup games," said Paul Hale, Notre Dame's first-year athletic director who postponed one baseball game Tuesday and announced makeup dates for two others.

"It's played havoc for baseball," St. Vincent athletic director Bruce Valleroy added. "I feel bad for the players. They've only played four games.

"It seems like everyday they're supposed to play, it's rained on us. It's a shame because you can't get into a rhythm. Each day you get up, and you don't know if you're going to play or not."

Tuesday looked promising until a round of rain rolled through late Tuesday morning. The storm wiped out the final round of the Noon Optimist Spring Classic girls soccer tournament, which was scheduled to pit St. Vincent against host Central in the championship. Notre Dame was to play Sikeston in the third-place game. The games may be rescheduled for next week.

St. Vincent's baseball team hasn't played since April 6, when the Indians lost to Perryville in a game that was moved up one day at the last minute.

"We watch the weather reports, and when they call for rain, we hope they're wrong," Valleroy said. "When the reports last week said we would have rain Thursday, Friday and Saturday, we called Perryville and moved the game to 5 p.m. Wednesday. Sometimes you've got to do that. When you get a dry day, you better take advantage of it."

Since then, the Indians had two games -- Friday against Meadow Heights and Monday at Herculaneum -- rained out.

"We're supposed to play Wednesday at Kelly, and that doesn't look too promising," Valleroy said.

Hale said Notre Dame, which is off today, filled out the week with makeup games at Poplar Bluff on Thursday and at home against Dexter on Friday. Tuesday's clash with Jackson was rescheduled for May 13.

"It's been busy," Hale said Tuesday, not long after observing a funnel cloud. "Usually in the spring, it's a busy time of the year with the weather. It's always iffy."

Valleroy remembered the 1993 season when he was coaching baseball at St. Vincent and the team was backed into eight games in nine days at the end of the season due to conference postponements.

"You don't want to get too backed up with your pitching," he said. "We already have games Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday next week.

"Golf has been the only one that has been able to get everything in. They've been lucky."