When it rains...

Man, am I tired of the rain. I suppose it happens every spring here in Central Illinois, but it gets old EVERY YEAR at this point.

It rained all day today, and it yesterday evening. It was beginning to rain as I was walking away from a baseball game in Bethany between two of our area's teams, the Knights and Timberwolves, two teams that have been rained on a lot this season, both literally and not. A few blocks over was a softball game between the same two schools, the Panthers and Lady Timberwolves, and while I'm sick of the rain, I'm sure all four teams are also tired of the rain, and I'm sure they're also tired of not winning.

The wheels have fallen off of the Okaw Valley baseball and softball teams' seasons, and there were unfortunately never really any wheels to start with for Lovington-Arthur's softball team and Arthur-Lovington's baseball team. (Note: You have to love the confusion behind co-ops)
To give a quick summary, the better teams won, though not by much. The Timberwolves came back from a 5-1 deficit to defeat the Knights 7-5, and the Lady Timberwolves beat the Panthers 4-2 in 4 1/2 rain-shortened innings.

Both Okaw Valley teams came into this season talented and feisty, though injuries and tough losses have crushed each of them, and though each team was competing strongly even a month ago, both have been shell-shocked and now the Timberwolves' record is 8-14 on the year, and the Lady Wolves' is 8-13.

Arthur and Lovington's co-ops both started at disadvantages. The Knights didn't have any players come out from Lovington High School this year, leaving them with less talent to work with, and the Panthers had to scramble at the last minute to even be able to field a full team.

I'm looking forward to some sunny weather, and though that's bound to come soon, maybe even tomorrow, both Okaw Valley and Arthur-Lovington's teams will likely have to wait until next year for things to truly shine. Okaw Valley baseball fields a big team, and the younger players are getting a lot of experience and are playing pretty well, and the Knight's young offense is learning how to play together, too.