4A, 3A softball gets late start, thanks to rain

TACOMA – University softball coach Jon Schuh enjoys coaching girls for many reasons.

One of those reasons was quite evident Friday when the first day of the State 4A tournament was postponed.

“The nice thing about coaching girls is you can take them to the mall and they’re fine,” Schuh said.

Steady overnight rain followed by a consistent drizzle Friday morning caused the first day of the 4A and 3A tournaments to be washed out at the South End Recreation Area (SERA) fields.

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association announced a revised schedule for the tournaments on its website (wiaa.com). Play will begin this morning with 4A openers at 10 and 3A openers at 11:30. At least two rounds of consolation games will be played. The championship games are scheduled for 8 p.m.

U-Hi is scheduled to play Heritage at 10 a.m.

In the 3A tournament, Mt. Spokane is scheduled to play Franklin Pierce at 1 p.m.

If play is postponed a second day, the 4A tourney will begin Sunday with a single-elimination format, Schuh said.

“All the 4A schools have signed a Sunday waiver,” Schuh said.

Not all the schools in the other tournaments signed a waiver to play Sunday. If those tournaments are rained out again today, it’s believed those tourneys would be moved to Monday.

Outside of shopping, Schuh and his team chose to spend most of their time inside.

“Now we’re just sitting around at the motel watching the raindrops,” Schuh said.