Rain disrupts 59ers’ season

Rain, rain go away so Andrean softball can finally play.

That goes for any region softball team for that matter, but it seems like the 59ers are the most behind due to Mother Nature’s bombardment this spring.

While some teams have played upward of 12 or 14 games — Lake Central actually has played 18 in between raindrops — Andrean just completed its sixth game Thursday, a 7-1 victory over Griffith.

The 59ers’ record is 5-1, but only one of those games is non-conference (5-0 record in Northwest Crossroads Conference play), and there won’t be many non-NCC games in the near future.

“Dave Holak of Mike’s Sporting Goods asked me the other day if I’d ever thought about coaching an indoor sport,” Andrean head coach Henry Ryan joked. “I told him I wish we could play in a dome.”

The bad weather that went away for at least one day on Friday has resulted in the 59ers having a pair of busy weeks ahead. They will play four straight conference games starting Monday — Munster, Kankakee Valley, Highland and Hobart — then head south to play in the annual Twin Lakes Invite Friday and Saturday with fellow NCC teams Munster and Lowell.

“(Friday) was almost like playing opening day for the third time,” Ryan said. “The players were almost claustrophobic from practicing indoors so much.”

To get that Griffith game in, assistant coach Fred Steinbach had to drill holes in the Andrean infield with an auger so he could pump water out of the saturated ground.

In addition to missing games, Ryan and his staff haven’t been able to conduct an integral part of their game plan.

“Scouting, scouting, scouting — I’m a firm believer in scouting,” Ryan said, adding that he learned that from a clinic conducted by University of Kentucky softball coach Rachel Lawson. “We send scouts ahead for games to scout upcoming opponents.”

No games means no scouting.

“The tape for Griffith we showed our pitchers and catchers was two weeks old because of rain,” he added. “It feels like you’re looking a last year’s tape.”

State rankings: Eight region teams made it into this week’s Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports Association softball top 15 polls this week with one of them at No. 1 for the time being.

Defending state champ Wheeler was still No. 1 in the Class 2A poll, but that could change after losing to Bishop Noll on Thursday. Westville is No. 4 in Class 1A while Whiting was tied with Cowan at No. 7. In Class 4A Lake Central was the top area team at No. 6 while LaPorte moved up a spot to No. 11 and Chesterton sneaked in at No. 15. Kankakee Valley rose to No. 8 in Class 3A, the first time the softball team has been ranked, while Andrean was right behind the Kougars at No. 9.

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