Devils Lake will have to wait just a little longer to get its diamond sports season going.
An ugly bout of weather has inhibited the baseball or softball teams from playing any outdoor games thus far. And it will continue into the week of April 6, if not longer.
The Devils Lake baseball team was originally supposed to begin its season on Tuesday, March 31 in Belcourt against Turtle Mountain. With sub-freezing highs, that game was canceled without much hesitation.
Softball was scheduled to play a region game at home against Fargo Davies on Thursday, April 2. That game was postponed on Wednesday, with no make-up date announced as of Thursday.
Traces of snow from Wednesday were still present Thursday morning. DLYA Field, home of the Devils Lake and Lake Region State College baseball teams, had a layer of snow covering the entire infield, with the “DL” block letters behind home plate only barely visible. The bleachers were all covered in snow as well.
According to weather.com, Devils Lake is supposed to get more snow on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with highs below 40.
The National Weather Service issued a winter storm watch from Friday afternoon through late Saturday night to portions of northwest Minnesota and northeast North Dakota, which includes Ramsey County.
“Heavy snow possible,” the winter storm watch notes. “Total snow accumulations in excess of 6 inches possible. … Travel could be very difficult. The hazardous conditions could impact the Friday evening commute.”
The severity is listed as “severe” with “significant threat to life or property.”
Safe to say, that doesn’t bode great for getting baseball season started.
The baseball and softball games originally scheduled for Tuesday, April 7 have already been canceled. Baseball was supposed to play a non-region slate against Grafton, while softball intended to play a non-region game against May-Port-C-G. Both events were canceled rather than postponed given their insignificance towards the standings.
LRSC had also been scheduled to play home baseball and softball games on Friday, April 3. Those games were postponed at the beginning of the week. They’ve been rescheduled for Wednesday, April 22.
Other area teams, including New Rockford-Sheyenne, North Star and Langdon Area/Munich, were scheduled to play games Thursday as well.
The earliest hope of outdoor baseball is now for Thursday, April 9. Devils Lake baseball is scheduled to host Grand Forks Central for the opening of Eastern Dakota Conference play that day.
Ideally, the Firebirds wanted to get games in against Turtle Mountain and Grafton before jumping into games that affect the region standings. But Thursday will now be the baseball season opener — if the weather allows and the field can be whipped into shape by then. Weather.com’s projected high for Thursday is 31, with 13 mph winds, which is likely too cold for outdoor baseball even if the snow is cleared by then. Highs won’t get into the 40s until the week of April 13.
The baseball team also has home games scheduled for Friday, April 10 and Saturday, April 11. Those are in danger of being impacted as well.
All of the baseball EDC games are scheduled as doubleheaders, with a pair of one-point games in the standings, but they could potentially be moved to a single two-point game if necessary.
The softball team has away games scheduled for April 10, 11 and 16, with its first home game listed on April 17 against Turtle Mountain. This does not include the make-up game against Fargo Davies, which is yet to get a rescheduled date.
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