THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Sunday, May 22, 2016

With all the state tournaments spread across the southern part of the state, those of us shut ins in the north were left to follow the wackiness largely through social media.

Rain delays. Lightning delays. Entire sides of brackets canceled due to rain. Consolation games shortened to five innings. An eight-run rule imposed, rather than the usual 10. The parade of athletes canceled at the state 5A and 4A track meets.

Meanwhile, the weather was pretty nice up here.

So it goes.

North Idaho is blessed to host state softball roughly every other year, and we’ve had our share of weather woes.

The 3A tourney has been shortened by rain before, with the winner determined based on games already played. If you lost early, you had no chance of coming back through the losers bracket, and if you won your way into the semifinals, you may have later found out you won the whole tournament.

There have been games started on one field in one town, and finished on another field in another town. If you had an exceptional grounds crew, a field that drained well or machinery that could quickly dry a soggy infield, you were in demand.

There were weekends where the media’s new best friend was the one who owned the tent.

YOU HAVE to feel for a team like Lakeland baseball. The Hawks lost 3-1 on Thursday in the first round of what they figured was going to be a double-elimination tournament, only to find out the next afternoon that, because of excessive rain in Twin Falls, the consolation bracket was canceled. Have a safe trip home. Talk about a retroactive one and done.

Then again, there’s Sandpoint softball. The Bulldogs made it to state for the first time in 13 years — before any of the current players were old enough to be in school — and they were looking at the possibility of busing all the way to Twin Falls to watch it rain for a couple of days. Friday’s games were canceled, and Saturday’s schedule was shortened to single-elimination. Sandpoint wound up playing one game before going home.

3A softball was scheduled for Ward Park in Pocatello, but moved to Capell Park in Chubbuck due to rain.

And 5A softball started out at Bonneville High in Idaho Falls, was moved to Blackfoot on Saturday but was rained out there before teams could even play. So it was decided the four teams still in the winners bracket would head to Mountain View High in Meridian and try to finish the tournament today.

Next year it’s our turn again, with state 5A softball in Coeur d’Alene and 4A softball in Post Falls.

The fact 4A baseball is in Twin Falls is somewhat of an eye opener, considering the stranglehold the Boise area has had on state baseball over the years.

Since the Idaho High School Activities Association does not sponsor a state baseball tournament (they sanction the sport, they just don’t sponsor the state tourney), Idaho’s 4A athletic directors vote on the site for state baseball. The tourney is scheduled to return to Boise (at Bishop Kelly) in 2017, then goes to Idaho Falls in 2018.

The state 5A tournament is run by the Southern Idaho Conference, which has no plans to move the tourney out of the Boise area.

So those hoping North Idaho can someday land the 5A baseball tourney, it appears those chances are slim and none.

A 4A baseball tourney, however, might be gettable one year.

And if so, hopefully the weather will be nice up here that weekend.

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