THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Thursday, April 16, 2015

Spring sports in North Idaho are crazy enough as it is.

One morning, the sun is out, you put the snow shovel away, and you grab the plastic furniture out of the garage and put it out on the back deck.

The next morning, you go back into the garage, grab the snow shovel you just put away and clear the morning snow off the deck.

Inconsistency.

ONE THING has become consistent this spring - the league schedules in 5A Inland Empire League baseball and softball.

In past years, when Lewiston played the three Kootenai County teams - Coeur d'Alene, Lake City and Post Falls - the games were all doubleheaders, either up here or down in Lewiston. That made sense - why travel a little more than two hours just to play one game.

However, when Coeur d'Alene, Lake City and Post Falls played each other, for many years, they would play four single games against each other. In more recent years, they might play one doubleheader and two singles.

Lewiston, particularly in baseball, thought that was an inconsistent schedule - and rightfully so. With the Bengals playing all doubleheaders in league, they had to burn two starting pitchers - and who knows how many relievers - in a single day.

But the other three teams, playing four single games, could conceivably throw their No. 1 pitcher in each league game, depending on how far apart the games were scheduled.

The schools worked on this issue, and this year came to a compromise.

All league games would be doubleheaders. Everyone would play each other twice, home and away, each time in a doubleheader. And, to make it even more equitable, all twinbills would be scheduled for Tuesdays and Saturdays, with everybody scheduled to play on the same dates.

This year, 5A IEL baseball and softball teams played all their nonleague games first, and all six dates for league doubleheaders came at the end of the schedule, starting last weekend.

(Now remember, we still live in North Idaho, so a few tweaks had to be made. So far, one doubleheader was moved up a day because of the threat of bad weather. Another twinbill was rained out and rescheduled for the next day. And another pair of games were moved up a day, presumably because of prom.)

Baseball coaches at the Kootenai County teams give a thumbs-up to the new, consistent schedule so far.

"I like it," Lake City coach Travis Georgius said. "It is taxing on the pitching staffs, but in the end it gives you a better idea of your depth. If one team has one dominant pitcher they can throw him multiple times against various teams and it isn't necessarily a true reflection on the ability of the team as a whole."

Post Falls coach Dustin Frank noted that the new schedule, with the same number of games but on fewer dates, meant more days for practice, and more flexibility in rescheduling rainouts.

"I also feel that having doubleheaders helps determine who is a better team is that given day and not just who had better pitching," Frank said. "Having two doubleheaders a week requires a four-man rotation and a pitching staff that relies on relievers."

With an eye ahead to the state tournament, where a team has to win three games in three days to capture a state title, Coeur d'Alene High coach Nick Rook said playing so many doubleheaders helps developing pitching depth - which could come in handy at state.

"It forces you as a staff to use more pitching," Rook said, "so it benefits you in the long run. It minimizes your opportunity to throw your No. 1 pitcher, but when you get into districts and state, you've got to have four, five, six guys to have a chance."

ADMINISTRATORS LIKE the new scheduling format as well - less playing dates means less class time missed, especially with half of the games slated for Saturdays.

Since league standings determine home-field advantage for the state-qualifying regional (district) tournaments, you can understand why a coach, it they have a dominant pitcher, would want to throw that person as much as possible in league play.

The lone opposing vote from local coaches polled came from longtime Coeur d'Alene softball coach Larry Bieber.

"With the North Idaho weather being as unpredictable as it is, I would prefer playing single games and then if we get rained out the makeup game could be turned into a doubleheader on the next date that the two teams met," Bieber said. "However I'm a lame duck this year (he's announced he plans to retire as coach at the end of the season), so the other coaches may not see it that way."

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.