Softball: St. Charles North still trying to play 1st game
Like everyone else, St. Charles North looked out the window Wednesday and watched as the rain washed out another day of high school softball.
That's where the similarities end for the North Stars, who have been burned by bad weather like none other.
Now in the fourth week of the season, St. Charles North still has yet to play a single game.
Coach Tom Poulin has never seen anything like it.
"Sometimes you play one or two and you can't play for awhile or you don't play your first two and then you start playing," Poulin said. "But we've never gone this long without at least playing one game."
Next week, St. Charles North, with its 0-0 record, will be playing rivals like 7-1 St. Charles East and 8-2 West Aurora.
It certainly isn't an ideal setup for a North Stars squad coming into the season with another talented squad coming off a 23-6 season,
"You don't ever want to go into a game where it's your first game and it's someone else's eighth," Poulin said. "I don't like going into a game where it's our first game and the other team has already played one. But it doesn't mean we don't have any confidence. We're just anxious to play."
This certainly wasn't how Poulin planned the season. He scheduled Oak Park-River Forest, the defending state champs, plus New Trier, Fremd and Schaumburg.
Every game was canceled.
"We had a great schedule lined up," Poulin said. "I thought we had really set up for a challenging start that would really pay off as we went through the season.
"It's frustrating. You have to keep things in perspective. You can't control the weather. It just depends on your field, how well it handles the rain, how well it bounces back. The guys here are doing everything they can, it's just that our field right now is not playable. We all here definitely want to play sooner rather than later."
West Aurora, Kaneland and Bartlett, among others, have taken trips south over spring break. This year's experience might have St. Charles North joining that group next spring.
"I've wanted to do it," Poulin said. "You have to raise the funds and going through process of getting everything approved. I definitely want to do it and after the beginning of this season, it's something that's on the top of the priority list for next season."
The North Stars will try to get their first game in again Friday. They are moving a scheduled home game against Wheaton Warrenville South to the turf infield at the Eastside complex.
On Saturday, St. Charles North is scheduled to play a doubleheader at New Trier.
Poulin is trying to put a positive spin on things as the North Stars start facing teams who already have played as many as 10 games.
"I wouldn't say we're at a disadvantage but we need to play catch-up," Poulin said. "I like our team an awful lot. I think we're as good as anyone on our schedule. But you learn things about your team as you play games which can make you stronger.
"We've had our fill of practice. We're trying to keep things interesting, focus on certain aspects of the game that sometimes you don't get to focus on. Hopefully we can use it as a positive."