Weather Makes for Stormy Softball
The Turner Field in Atlanta faces a rain delay. Weather can deter a game from effectively playing out; in addition, it can affect how players play the game.
April 24, 2017
Playing a college sport in a major city comes with its challenges. For some NYU athletic teams, not having a main game field or facility located near the campus has proven to be a major problem. This past weekend, the weather forced the NYU softball team to cancel two of its games against Emory University, causing a disruption in the University Athletic Association conference standings.
Sophomore softball player Ashley Mains explained that due to the team’s use of a different school’s facility, NYU’s games were shifted.
“[The games] were initially supposed to be Saturday, but we play at Fordham [University], and it is a DI facility,” Mains said. “Their games on Saturday were cancelled due to field conditions so they bumped us because they scheduled to make up their Saturday games [on Sunday].”
Conflict due to field sharing with other universities is not uncommon among NYU teams. However, freshman softball player Mary Tindall said the cancellation of these UAA conference games is particularly severe, as it may hinder the chances of Emory or NYU making the NCAA Division III softball tournament.
“Basically, since NYU softball doesn’t have a field under our own control, we were stuck with no options to make up the games,” Tindall said. “This unfairly jeopardizes the current UAA softball rankings in a tight race for the top spot in our conference, since neither Emory nor us gets the chance to have two more wins under our belt.”
Tindall explained that if NYU were to have its own homefield similar to the baseball team’s residency at MCU Park in Brooklyn, scenarios such as this could be prevented.
The softball team still has a set of four games against Washington University in St. Louis that will determine their fate for the tournament. While the game cancellations this weekend may have been a setback, the team’s chances of being seeded are not yet over. Their first game against WashU will be Friday, April 28 at Bahoshy Softball Complex at the Fordham campus in the Bronx.
A version of this article appeared in the Monday, April 24 print edition. Email Maddie Howard at [email protected].
