Inclement weather has delayed construction of the $18.5 million Husky Multi-Sports Facilities Project at Mifflin County High School in Lewiston, Pa., leaving its baseball, softball, track and field, and lacrosse teams scrambling for alternative places to practice and compete.
Those plans have changed dramatically as school officials are scrambling to find places for teams to practice and play regular-season games until their new fields are ready to go.
“Most likely, due to the poor weather conditions, baseball and softball will have to be inside,” Mifflin County High School athletic director Tish Maclay said, as reported by the The Sentinel in Lewiston. “No outside fields are considered to be “playable” at this point.
“We are exploring our options of backloading our schedules for baseball and softball. Track and field meets have already been moved to all away meets this season.”
The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association practice season officially began Monday.
“It’s pretty common to have to practice inside in March a lot of times anyway,” Huskies baseball head coach Ray Hoppel said, according to The Sentinel. “So from that perspective, we pretty much are accustomed to indoor practices in March. Finding another outdoor location is the tricky part.”
Per Greg Williams' reporting, Mifflin County softball head coach Craig Weston agreed, “Hopefully we can find a field that we can utilize until our field is ready.”
Mifflin County School District superintendent of schools Vance Varner said the weather in early March will dictate progress on the complex. “We need some warmer weather for the ground to thaw and then the construction pace can pick back up," he said. “The hope is to have the baseball and softball teams have access to their fields in April. Both of these fields need some compaction work and new sod installed in the areas adjacent to the turf infields.”
Marcal Paper Field, which will accommodate Mifflin County's track and field teams, is still an active construction site and unusable. Track and field could be practicing at numerous sites as officials are “developing a plan for areas throughout the district to be used for the track and field teams to practice,” Varner told The Sentinel. “Right now, we could use warm sunny days with limited rain to help this project to pick up some speed.”
The Huskies’ boys' and girls' lacrosse teams will use athletic fields at Mifflin County Middle School in Lewistown until Marcal Paper Field is ready, Williams reported.
