Businesses and homeowners weren’t the only ones who caught the brunt of the nor’easter early this week. High school sports were heavily affected, as Indian River softball was forced to drop their match against Newark from the schedule. Both softball and baseball saw a loaded agenda this week as the end of the season closed in upon them.

Five games were held at the Pyle Center on Wednesday, May 14, in effort to make up games scheduled for Monday and Tuesday. IR baseball squared off against Polytech, rescheduled from Tuesday, and that forced the squad to schedule Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday games this week. Polytech played a double-header Wednesday evening, starting with Delmar. Lost yet?

The Lady Indians of IR softball faced back-to-back matchups, first against St. Elizabeth’s, then Polytech. The Polytech softball team had preceded their IR game with one against Delmarva Christian under the lights.

The storm damaged field conditions throughout the state, and Wednesday was the only available slot for games, as all softball games needed to be completed by Thursday for state tournament seeding.

Still, there was some silver lining to an otherwise cloud-filled week of athletics.

“By centralizing everything and bringing all the teams here,” said Indian River athletic director, Todd Fuhrman, “it made it easier on the umpires, made it easy on bus travel, and it helps out the concession at the Pyle Center. It’s also kind of a prelude to get them ready for the state tournament, which will be hosted at the Pyle Center.”

The softball team sacrificing their Newark game may have potentially hurt them as they can, at best, finish the season 9-9 (prior to results from Wednesday’s games). A 10-9 final season score might have ultimately given them a better record, and, in turn, improved their seeding in the state tournament.

Other than a crammed schedule, baseball is still on track with their games, and a win on Wednesday against Polytech (all games after Coastal Point press deadline) would seal the conference with a 16-1 season record for the Indians, as Seaford trailed following their second loss of the season earlier this week.

Indian River’s girls’ senior soccer match was also pushed to Wednesday, May 14, due to inclement weather conditions earlier in the week. With the golf course closed on Tuesday, golf’s match at Cripple Creek, hosting Smyrna, was postponed until the following Thursday.

“Being my first year here as athletic director,” said Fuhrman, “everyone tells you, ‘Spring’s going to be hectic,’ but they don’t really realize the chaos weather like this can have.”