THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Two days that seemed like a week

Mondays are for easing into the work week.

Same with the sports week.

Not this past Monday — the one three days ago.

No less than six high school regional/district tournament baseball games.

Two games from a high school district softball tournament, and two more from a doubleheader that had been rained out earlier, but had to be made up because it affected seedings for regionals.

Three state-qualifying high school golf tournaments — originally there were four, but we found out later that one of them had been moved to Tuesday.

Tuesday included some five baseball games, four softball games and the aforementioned golf tournament — a breeze by comparison to Monday.

Yes, this is somewhat a labor of love, but that was a lot of labor.

Fortunately, GameChanger has made tracking down box scores from games you’re not at much easier.

Much easier for us media folks, much easier for coaches who no longer have to pore through a scorebook while reporting a doubleheader, trying to figure out what someone else’s chicken scratchings meant.

Many, many thanks to every team hooked up to GameChanger, and everyone who runs the GameChanger during games, and bonus points to those who are able to be hooked up to WiFi during games so we can follow the games in real time.

YOU HAVE a plan on how to cover all this madness in such a short amount of time, looking to grab a few photos on your way into the office, and then you show up at a baseball game just in time for the first pitch — or when you THOUGHT the first pitch was going to be — and you see a coach still dragging the infield, the athletic director wielding a rake, and a coach from the other team hitting infield to his players — in the outfield.

Kudos to staff at Coeur d’Alene — and at Timberlake — for getting those baseball games in on Monday, after a mid-afternoon rain shower made for puddles on the fields which had already been groomed and ready for play earlier in the day.

There’s a little bit of wiggle room for making up games if regional/district tournament events are rained out — but there’s not much wiggle room.

Especially in baseball, where pitch-count rules don’t change just because the games aren’t as spread out as teams hoped to be because of rainouts.

State tournaments, as we’ve learned in recent years, have little to no margin for error if it rains. Games are shortened, and/or canceled.

Which is why we’ve paid particular attention to the recent 14-day forecasts posted on the Press Facebook page by our meteorologist, Randy Mann.

Especially with the state 5A and 4A softball tournaments returning to Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls next Friday and Saturday.

As of Tuesday night, next Friday (and Thursday) look good, weather-wise. But rain is in the forecast for next Saturday.

Hopefully the local tournament directors have operators of field burners on speed dial.

IF THE latest version of MaxPreps’ softball rankings are to be believed, Coeur d’Alene is ranked No. 2 in 5A, which would give the Vikings, who won the 5A Region 1 title on Tuesday, a matchup against the seventh seed in the first round at state next week.

Defending champion Skyview of Nampa, which was playing to wrap up a state berth on Wednesday, is ranked No. 1. Lewiston is fifth, Post Falls eighth, if the winner of their second-place game today in Lewiston wins a state play-in game Saturday.

Timberlake, which could wrap up a state berth today, is ranked sixth in 3A, behind Homedale, Marsh Valley, Gooding, Weiser and Filer.

In 2A, St. Maries, which punched its ticket to state on Monday, is ranked second behind Malad. West Jefferson is third.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @CdAPressSports.