SOUTH WAYNE - Anyone that's been emotionally drained by the weather in waiting for the 2008 spring season to get moving should take a pointer off Jerry Mortimer and Black Hawk nation.
"All of us at Black Hawk are doing a 'bring on the sun' dance," Mortimer, the Warriors' athletic director, said emphatically.
Always a glass-half-full kind of guy, Mortimer is eager, just like the rest of South Wayne and its neighboring communities. After all, Black Hawk's baseball and softball clubs are brimming with talent and anxious themselves to find out what they can do once Mother Nature gets out of the way.
She's essentially frozen or washed away the first two weeks of the season.
There are a lot of teams with ample promise waiting to determine where the line lay between expectations and reality. But, with the hard work of his peers around the Six Rivers, Mortimer and the rest of the ringleaders have kept the peace as things have gotten out of hand outdoors.
"All the athletic directors and coaches have been great and everyone is working together to keep things moving in the right direction," Mortimer said.
AD's have been doing the scheduling shuffle in every sport and there are very few instances in which directors have had to resort to doubleheaders.
Once they do, however, coaches will hope that the cramped time spent indoors will have been spent efficiently. The virtually extinct position of No. 3 pitcher in softball will become paramount. Baseball skippers may be challenged to go above and beyond five-man rotations.
"When we get into weeks when you've got games four out of five days and one of them's a doubleheader, we're going to find out what we're made of five or six men deep," Monroe baseball coach Steve Christensen said.
Christensen got outstanding starting pitching last weekend, most notably a two-walk no-hitter by senior Jake Teasdale in the first game of a twin bill with Baraboo at home last Saturday.
Teasdale's undoubtedly been a vital leader in keeping things positive off the diamond as all the Cheesemaker teams have set up shop within four walls more often than not.
Back out to the west, there isn't a better coach to keep his senior-laden baseball club hungry than Todd Strang. The chatty old school skipper won't hesitate to challenge a player but is also delivers his message in a positive fashion.
Even if it's often delivered outside of the typical practice setting.
"There is only so much you can do inside a gymnasium," Mortimer said. "The coaches have done a great job of cooperating and working out practice times and mixing up their practices to keep the athletes interested and enthusiastic."
This all began when Dale Buvid's softball team had its opener with DeForest pushed back. Monroe AD Kevin Keen started the perpetual shuffle that will hopefully fall into form with precipitation-free weather forecast on game nights this upcoming week.
"All of us at Black Hawk are doing a 'bring on the sun' dance," Mortimer, the Warriors' athletic director, said emphatically.
Always a glass-half-full kind of guy, Mortimer is eager, just like the rest of South Wayne and its neighboring communities. After all, Black Hawk's baseball and softball clubs are brimming with talent and anxious themselves to find out what they can do once Mother Nature gets out of the way.
She's essentially frozen or washed away the first two weeks of the season.
There are a lot of teams with ample promise waiting to determine where the line lay between expectations and reality. But, with the hard work of his peers around the Six Rivers, Mortimer and the rest of the ringleaders have kept the peace as things have gotten out of hand outdoors.
"All the athletic directors and coaches have been great and everyone is working together to keep things moving in the right direction," Mortimer said.
AD's have been doing the scheduling shuffle in every sport and there are very few instances in which directors have had to resort to doubleheaders.
Once they do, however, coaches will hope that the cramped time spent indoors will have been spent efficiently. The virtually extinct position of No. 3 pitcher in softball will become paramount. Baseball skippers may be challenged to go above and beyond five-man rotations.
"When we get into weeks when you've got games four out of five days and one of them's a doubleheader, we're going to find out what we're made of five or six men deep," Monroe baseball coach Steve Christensen said.
Christensen got outstanding starting pitching last weekend, most notably a two-walk no-hitter by senior Jake Teasdale in the first game of a twin bill with Baraboo at home last Saturday.
Teasdale's undoubtedly been a vital leader in keeping things positive off the diamond as all the Cheesemaker teams have set up shop within four walls more often than not.
Back out to the west, there isn't a better coach to keep his senior-laden baseball club hungry than Todd Strang. The chatty old school skipper won't hesitate to challenge a player but is also delivers his message in a positive fashion.
Even if it's often delivered outside of the typical practice setting.
"There is only so much you can do inside a gymnasium," Mortimer said. "The coaches have done a great job of cooperating and working out practice times and mixing up their practices to keep the athletes interested and enthusiastic."
This all began when Dale Buvid's softball team had its opener with DeForest pushed back. Monroe AD Kevin Keen started the perpetual shuffle that will hopefully fall into form with precipitation-free weather forecast on game nights this upcoming week.
