05/27/2026
*⚠️INFORMATION POST ABOUT WEATHER, CANCELLING GAMES, AND THE WHYS OF HOW WE DO THINGS⚠️*
We have shared this information before during coaches meetings and with parents throughout the years but we have decided to share it again after hearing some remarks about the process we use. We understand some people are frustrated and we can promise you that we share that same frustration as well. If you think we intentionally don’t make a decision to mess up everyone’s schedule on nights like these or if you think we are unaware to when rain falls at the ballpark therefore our decision making is always delayed because of that then you are incorrect. We live and breathe this place, constantly being out here, constantly checking on things, constantly preparing for the next set of games/season etc. Our goal every night is to get the games in for the kids and for the program. Thats what we are here for. We say that every year. If we feel like we have a chance to do that then we are going to try. If we feel like that early on in the day that there is no chance to play then we put that information out and cancel immediately. For example, had we had games scheduled for this past Friday, we would have put out a cancellation message early in the day as there was several inches of rain that fell early Friday. No reason to hold that decision as there was no chance that we could have played that night.
In years past we have played numerous amounts of days when there has been a heavy rain in the morning of a game day but by night time the fields were fine. We have also had afternoon showers on a game day and still played. We have played games with rain falling during the game itself. We have played games on a Monday after several inches of rain during the weekend. You name the scenario, we’ve done it. Most other places couldn’t do that and maybe that’s where so much confusion comes in. We are blessed with good fields, fields we have worked on continuously for the past 11 years, fields that we make sure are laser leveled when needed, fields we make sure that have clay brought in when needed and that have the proper amount of field conditioner put on them each year. We do all of that so that they can take a good amount of rain and we still be able to play our season. On the the flip side if we didn’t do all of that then we would be able to cancel as soon as it rained on any day because there wouldn’t be a single chance we could play.
As far as tonight is concerned, the fields were good to play on as of last night. To give everyone an idea about how good the fields were, we worked the infields up last night at about 9PM with a small tractor. No tracks left no nothing. Perfect field conditions. All of that after over four inches of rain in three days. This morning after the first good rain showers came through and then this afternoon after the second good rain showers came through the fields showed not much change. We did a walk test and the fields were fine to play on. No reason to cancel. A third rain shower came in around 3:30. At about 4:00 we did a walk test again. They were still fine to play on but they were starting to get questionable in places especially on Field #3. That was the first time all day that we started thinking that we may not be able to play or that we may have to do additional work with conditioner and rakes to get the games in. Around 4:30 or so we did the walk test once again, no rain had fallen in 30-45 minutes but this walk test had water showing underneath our shoes with every step on every field. So to summarize, we went from no water showing underneath our shoes, to water showing underneath our shoes but yet we didnt receive anymore rain between those two walk test. The reason being, was because the temperature dropped during that timespan and that caused additional moisture to be brought up from the ground. Additionally during the last walk test, we did a traction test on field #2. When we did that our feet slid out from underneath us. At that time the radar showed a small but heavy rain cell coming from the Blytheville area. After taking all of that in to consideration, we decided to cancel games for the night.
We could go on and on about all the things that affect the fields drying or that help them hold water. Things like what time the rain comes, how much rain at what specific time, what was the previous days weather like, was it cloudy today but sunny yesterday or vice versa, is it windy today, is it windy but with cooler temperatures, is the humidity high or low, whats the water table like, is the temperatures going to make the water rise or is it going to stay down in the ground, and so on. There is a ton that goes in to it from morning to afternoon or even from one hour to the next that can make the fields go from playable to unplayable. We try to explain each night why we are cancelling. We try to give a short but detailed message so that there is an understanding of what has gone on for that particular night. Writing this length of a message on here or to our coaches is not something we want to do every time it rains nor do most want to read such a detailed message as to why we are cancelling on any particular night. We are hopeful that this message will be read by all and that going forward there will be a better understanding of why we do it the way we do and what all goes in to the decisions. We apologize that we have had the rainouts that we have had this year and that we haven’t been able to notify everyone earlier in the day but again there is so much that goes in to those decisions and again our goal is to let the kids play.
Thank you for reading, good luck to everyone the rest of the season, and we hope that we can finish the year strong and with no more rainouts. See you all Thursday!🥎❤️⚾️
