THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: Can these kids catch a break?

You might have noticed a little bit of a change in the weather if you’ve been out to a high school sporting event in the last few days.

And no, it’s not for the better.

But at least they’re playing, right?

DEPENDING ON who’s coaching, there’s plenty of ways to handle games with weather issues.

In the case of Coeur d’Alene, it’s taking advantage of a wealth of pitching.

“Our plan was to throw a lot of arms (last Saturday) so they’re all available on Tuesday,” said Coeur d’Alene coach Erik Karns, whose team swept Lakeland on April 9, then turned around to sweep Post Falls last Tuesday at Ted Page Field in Coeur d’Alene. “Our goal is to develop as many arms as we can. If we’re able to get to the end of the season, and maybe a state tournament, we’d like to see as many arms as we can so we’ve got an idea what they can do.”

Also a key — staying patient when weather isn’t great.

“Our game against Lakeland was delayed about an hour because there was a lot of water on the field,” Karns said. “The field was in great shape and they quickly came out and put the tarp on. We were going to wait it out and keep going if we could.”

This year, the Inland Empire League moved to count those games pitting 5A schools (Coeur d’Alene, Lake City, Post Falls, Lewiston) against 4A schools (Lakeland, Moscow, Sandpoint) in the league standings. Games at 4A sites count this year, with locations flopping next year.

THAT HAS left some teams backlogged in scheduling games, while also keeping in with the pitch count rules.

“It’s just so hard to reschedule if games are postponed,” Karns said. “It’s just tough to fit in games if they’re postponed or canceled.”

And while lights could help, teams find themselves running into other issues, causing that second game of a doubleheader to end a little early.

“We were trying to get both games in,” said Post Falls coach Kurt Reese of Tuesday’s doubleheader against Coeur d’Alene, which began at 3 p.m., and ended early due to darkness in the sixth inning of the nightcap. “We were right up against darkness, but that’s baseball in North Idaho.”

Sometimes, it just comes down to whoever deals with the elements the best.

“It was frigid, windy and miserable,” Timberlake coach Bryce Johnson said after his team swept visiting Kellogg on Wednesday. “I told our guys between games that it was going to come down to whoever could block it out and get the job done.”

Timberlake won 5-4 and 7-6 in the Intermountain League opener for both teams.

A little further north, Bonners Ferry swept Priest River to open league play, allowing only one hit in the twinbill.

“I’m glad we moved the games up a little bit,” said Bonners Ferry coach Tom Turpin, whose games were moved up to 1 and 3 p.m. instead of starting at 3. “Once the sun goes behind the mountains, it gets brutally cold up here. It was fine when the sun was out, but we were lucky to get those games in. Once we start playing these league games, it’s hard to find dates to reschedule because there’s not much time to fit them in.”

BELIEVE IT or not, the 5A Region 1 and 3A District 1 tournaments begin on May 9, which is roughly three weeks from now.

Some of those teams have a little more ground to make up than others, with some teams looking at anywhere from 8 to 10 more games to be played.

Sure, there’s plenty of time for things to change, and area athletic directors will do everything they can do to get those games in.

Now, the only thing we need is a spring like we used to have three to four years ago.

For most spring sports athletes, they've been through enough challenges just to compete in the last two years.

It's not much to ask for.

Or is it?

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for The Press. He can be reached by telephone at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.