BANGOR, Maine — Steve Vanidestine is no different from any other high school athletic administrator in northern and eastern Maine during early April.
“Our whole life is predicated on the weather,” he said Wednesday from his office at Bangor High School.
Recent weather trends around the state have left Vanidestine and his brethren a lot more optimistic that the spring sports season will begin on schedule than they were two weeks ago — before increasing temperatures and steady winds combined to eat away the lingering snowpack.
“I was looking out a week ago at 3-foot snow drifts,” said Vanidestine. “Now all there is are leaves blowing around and not a speck of snow.”
That means Bangor’s baseball team likely will begin the defense of its 2014 Class A state championship on schedule and at home when the Rams host Hampden Academy in their April 22 season opener.
Vanidestine had made arrangements to move that game to the artificial-turf field at Husson University, but if field conditions continue to improve, the game will be played at Bangor’s regular home field, Mansfield Stadium.
“We’ve had two things you need to have,” said Vanidestine. “We’ve had sun and wind, and when you get the sun and the heat and then you get a windy day, that’s the magic formula.”
Vanidestine said that magic formula was good news for Bangor’s softball field, which he said should be ready for the team’s opener against Hampden, also on April 22.
“We’ve turned the corner,” he said. “Maybe we’ll get out on the fields [Wednesday], but we’re looking at [Thursday] for baseball and softball, and we’re already outside for track. Unless we have rain, it looks like we’re going to be able to start the season as we would normally, so we’re very pleased.”
Field preparation also is going well in Brewer where Coffin Field will be ready for the Witches softball opener against Bangor on Friday, April 24, according to athletic director Dave Utterback, who added that scrimmages will be held on the field next week.
Utterback is hopeful that Brewer’s baseball facility, Heddericg Field, will be ready for the team’s first home game on Monday, April 27.
Not all parts of the state are experiencing such spring fever yet.
At Calais High School, athletic administrator Randy Morrison said the snow melt is rapid but not yet complete.
According to the National Weather Service, neighboring Robbinston — 15 miles south of the border city along U.S. Route 1 — endured a record 190 inches of snow this winter, 106 inches more than average.
That’s left Mother Nature with work to do before the Blue Devils’ spring teams play outside.
“Maybe the first of May,” said Morrison. “We’ve still got snow on the [baseball] infield and a couple of feet in front of our dugouts. The outfield is starting to show some grass, but we’ve got a ways to go. The frost is still in the ground right now. I walked it the other day, and it was still frozen, and where there is grass, there’s ice on top.”
Calais was scheduled to play at Narraguagus of Harrington on Thursday, but while the Narraguagus fields typically are set for play sooner than many area schools — the Knights hosted Calais in their 2014 season openers last April 17 — they aren’t quite ready this year, so those games were postponed to April 28 at Calais.
Those rescheduled contests would be Calais’ home openers, Morrison said.
Current conditions are more typical for mid-April in Aroostook County, where few games are scheduled before the final days of the month.
“It’s a three-part process,” said Presque Isle athletic administrator Mark White. “The snow’s got to go, then the frost has to get out of the ground, and once the frost is out, then the water can drain. Some people think if the snow’s gone you can play on it, but not always.”
Presque Isle’s first home games are scheduled for April 28, leaving less than two weeks for the Wildcats’ fields to become game-ready.
“It’s coming,” said White. “We still have quite a bit of snow, but we are 10 times better than I thought we would be last week.
“The problem is the baseball field is in the trees, so right field never thaws out, and my softball field is probably 40 feet below my baseball field, so sometimes we get the runoff from the baseball field onto the softball field,” he said.
The Star City’s middle school and high school baseball and softball teams are practicing on the artificial-turf soccer field at the Gehrig T. Johnson Athletic Complex. White is optimistic the high school softball field might be ready by the end of next week.
“There have been times when we’ve been on our fields during April vacation, but that’s the exception more than the rule,” he said. “But I’m hopeful. Our fields are good fields, sometimes they just need a little help.”
