Snow has been the main factor hindering spring Pioneer athletics, including baseball, softball, track and lacrosse, and every year the teams must adjust accordingly.
The schedule for certain sports can change with one snowfall, causing games to be cancelled and change practice schedules.
Platteville received a large amount of snow over the past few weeks causing mud and wetness to consume the outdoor fields. Mark Molesworth, University of Wisconsin-Platteville Athletic Director, said that the last snowfall forced some changes in the spring schedule.
Molesworth said he has to make sure the umpires are available for the rescheduled games, while keeping in mind that they have other jobs. Molesworth also has to ensure that a location works for both Platteville and the opposing team.
Weather may force teams to play at a neutral site or play a home game on the opposing school’s field. The opposing school then has to help out and pay for the travel expenses for the home team. This is all done in hopes that the weather holds up for the rescheduled game.
There is a lot of work that goes into getting fields ready in the spring even if the weather is nice.
“To get fields ready on time, the athletic department has a checklist of things that need to be done,” said Molesworth. “The players and coaches put a lot of time and effort into getting the fields ready to play on.”
Molesworth stressed that the department, including coaches, players and facility employees, spare no time in preparation for the fields to be ready to house competition.
“We go through and decide what things need to be done right now and what can be done at a later time,” Molesworth said. “This is done so that we are not wasting any time in preparing the fields. At the end of the day, we are still at the mercy of Mother Nature no matter how prepared the fields are.”
The lacrosse team, which plays all games of the season outdoors on a grass field, has troubles of their own properly preparing for games when they must conduct practices indoors.
Jack Penglase, a member of the UW-Platteville lacrosse team, agreed that weather has a big impact on spring sports. Penglase said that the lacrosse team has been unable to practice outside because of snowfall having an effect in how prepared the team was for their first match.
“There is a big difference in the way the ball bounces on a hard surface like concrete, to a soft surface like grass,” Penglase said. “When the ball hits a hard surface like concrete, it will speed up. When it hits a soft surface like grass, it will slow down. It’s very tough to have to get used to that during the middle of a game.”
Penglase said that the team is not able to practice outside because Miners Field is still wet.
Unlike the lacrosse team, softball was able to host their first game on Wednesday because of the nice weather throughout the week.
“Our next scheduled game is April 1, and we intend on having the field ready to play on by then,” said Negrelli. “If we are unable to use the softball field, we will play in the Ralph E. Davis  Stadium. We are also using the stadium for practices this week and have used it for games occasionally over the last couple of years.”
Negrelli said that they will need to be ready for all weather conditions because it is the Midwest. The softball team must be willing to reschedule games when necessary.
“In general, every game will be played at some point except in the most extreme circumstances,” said Negrelli.
The only circumstance where they would not play every game is if they run out of time to reschedule the games at the end of the season.