THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: Saturday, March 19, 2016

It doesn’t even have to be on a basketball court to resemble March Madness these days.

On the baseball, softball or tennis court, you name it, it’s total madness right now.

IN A nonleague baseball game on Thursday afternoon, the Lakeland Hawks fell behind 13-3, or so the host West Valley Eagles thought and began walking off the field with a mercy rule win.

Not so fast.

Lakeland coach Jason Bradbury contested the score and it was upheld, determining that they’d given themselves an extra run.

“West Valley had seven runs marked in the fourth inning, but had actually put a run on the board instead of the second out,” Bradbury said. “They only had six and realized it with their book.”

What happened next, was pretty remarkable.

Lakeland scored eight runs in the top of the sixth inning to pull within a 12-11 deficit before West Valley added four more runs in the bottom half of the inning.

“We got within one run,” Bradbury said. “But we just couldn’t get over the hump.”

All things considered, having a young team as Lakeland is fighting its way back — in only its second game — could be a sign that the youth might not be too far off where they need to be.

Meanwhile the weather hasn’t quite been as great to some teams, with a handful of schools having to maneuver games around rain, snow, sleet.

As Coeur d’Alene High attempted to get a baseball doubleheader in against Bonners Ferry on Tuesday, the bad conditions took a turn for the worst, forcing the postponement of a game at Ted Page Field.

“It wasn’t really that bad until the second game, and we shouldn’t have tried to get that game in,” Coeur d’Alene coach Nick Mahin said. “It kind of looked like it was going to let up.”

How and if the game, which features the 5A Vikings and 3A Badgers, will depend on the time of year, and rosters.

“We’re going to try and make it up, but we’ll see on pitching for the game,” Mahin said. “The field held up great in the first game. But the second game, it got wet real quick.”

AFTER HAVING its first five games — yes, five — the Timberlake softball team opened the season by beating Riverside in a nonleague game on Thursday.

Nonleague games at Orofino were postponed due to wet conditions, though the baseball games went on as planned. A doubleheader at Sandpoint was also called off on Tuesday.

The Coeur d’Alene High and Coeur d’Alene Charter tennis teams have yet to take the court, and will do so in coming weeks – weather permitting.

It never fails, and won’t anytime soon in this area with spring games being postponed or canceled in the early going of the season.

Until that happens, fans will just have to wait for a little better weather to witness the madness for themselves.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JEPressSports.