Meanwhile, back on the prep front ...

You may be surprised to hear that there are other things going on in the local/regional sporting world, aside from the Zags.

After a hectic March schedule, and following a week off for spring break, area high school teams are ready to hit the home stretch of their spring seasons.

Aw, who are we trying to kid?

March was a wash — literally — for most teams.

Baseball and softball games, and tennis matches, were routinely postponed, either because of snow still on the fields or courts, or once the snow melted, a steady diet of rain.

Maybe it was just as well, as most people were focused on the Zags’ memorable run to the national championship game anyway.

TIMBERLAKE HIGH’s early season baseball schedule can be summed up in three letters — ppd.

As in postponed.

A season-opening three-game series at Orofino on March 11-12 was rained out. A home doubleheader with Sandpoint didn’t happen. Neither did single games at Riverside and Moscow, and a doubleheader at Clarkston. A home twinbill with St. Maries was rained out.

Weather permitting, Timberlake was finally able to open its season Wednesday at home vs. Lakeland.

Coeur d’Alene and Mead met halfway in baseball — well, not really. Actually, they went to the Tri-Cities to get their game in on March 14. They could have met at Dick’s Hamburgers in Spokane near the freeway and carpooled. The Vikings also got two games in at Walla Walla, and three more at Lewiston.

Post Falls has gotten in seven of its nine baseball games, with good reason — the Trojans scheduled all their nonleague games on the road. They’ve played four games in the Tri-Cities and three in Boise. The only rainouts were the season opener at University in Spokane Valley, and one game at the tourney in Boise.

Post Falls has just four home dates on the schedule this spring — three of its league doubleheaders, the other a nonleague twinbill with Sandpoint.

St. Maries’ baseball team is undefeated through eight scheduled games — of course, six of those were rained out.

Timberlake’s softball team has nearly suffered the same fate as the Tigers’ baseball team. Timberlake had its first seven softball games rained out, got in a sweep at Clarkston — then had a double-dip with St. Maries rained out just prior to break.

St. Maries’ softball team entered April undefeated — thanks to seven of its first eight games being rained out.

WITH MOST teams into the meat of their league schedules this month, making up March’s games will be difficult. And district/regional tournaments, meets, whatever, are roughly four weeks away.

Spring sports, we hardly knew ye.

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.