The spring sport season here at Oliver Ames starts in the next few days. This year there was an unprecedented amount of snow that blanketed the town of Easton. This snowfall lasted for much longer than anyone expected. Due to this fact, the fields that the OA spring sports team play on have been practically unusable. This caused a lot of panic within the sports world as the future of the 2026 season was put up in the air of uncertainty.
One of the fields that got the worst snow coverage was the softball field. With snow still remaining on the field, it will not be able to be used for the start of the softball season. Even with the unfortunate situation, coach Lindsey Allison isn’t shaken, and has a set plan to tackle the challenge of the snow while also facing the reality of the struggles it could cause.
“Whenever there is snow on the ground, we practice in the Old gymnasium. There is a hitting tunnel in there and we can use our regular equipment. Sometimes we go off campus as well.” coach Allison said. “If fields aren’t playable then games will have to be pushed back in the season; this causes back to back games, which isn’t ideal for pitchers.”
If the softball field got the snow the worst, the baseball field is a close second. Barely being able to see the field definitely arose a whirlwind of worry for the coaching staff. Head coach Joseph Abarr is optimistic that he and his team will be able to rally and make the most out of the sour situation.
“Our first game is typically the following Monday so that is nine practices prior to game 1. We will do this same thing again this year, but we will need to coordinate with lacrosse to borrow some turf space and maximize time in the practice gym.” Abarr explained. “As of right now we have only one game that has been rescheduled preemptively. Our original first game on 3/27 has been pushed back to April, but everything else is scheduled as is for the time being. The main concern though is safety. We need to ramp up pitchers’ arms safely so they do not open themselves up to overuse injuries.”
