DCHS practices indoors for upcoming playoff game
Published 11:06 pm Tuesday, April 14, 2015
The weather is wreaking havoc for teams preparing for the start of the Alabama High School Athletic Association baseball playoffs this weekend.
Dallas County was scheduled to play games Monday and Tuesday to round out its regular season and to get in a bit more work before its playoff series against Marbury Friday and Saturday. Instead, both games were rained out.
Dallas County spent Tuesday afternoon at Selma University’s indoor hitting facility to get a little work in. With weather in the forecast all week, it may be the only time they get to practice before Friday’s games.
“It’s kind of frustrating, but we aren’t the only team in this boat either,” said Dallas County head coach Cody Massey. “Everybody else around us is in the same boat with the weather so you have to take it with a grain of salt and keep going.”
The Hornets are scheduled to travel to Marbury at 4 p.m. Friday for the first two games of the series. An if necessary game would be played Saturday if the teams split Friday’s games.
Some of the playoff series around the state scheduled for Friday have been moved to Thursday due to the rain, which is something Massey said he discussed with Marbury baseball coach Lyman Woodfin. However, neither coach is confident Thursday would provide better weather. Plus, Woodfin told Massey Marbury’s field has been covered with a tarp during the rain in an effort to keep it dry.
“All week and even into the weekend you are looking at a 90 percent chance of rain so it’s all going to factor into when will the rain actually come,” Massey said.
The Hornets are turning their focus to their own preparation, which is a factor they can control. The team took swings off tees and through soft toss Tuesday as it worked on hitting — an area that has plagued Dallas County at points this season.
“We’re so scatterbrained with it,” Massey said. “It’s not consistent. We’ll get one or two hits in and then we’ll go dead for two or three more innings. If we want to have any type of chance to put any pressure on them, to make them make mistakes, it’s going to come down to our hitting.”
The Hornets will be without senior leadership in the field. Outfielder Bruce Talbot, the team’s lone senior, pulled his hamstring during a play last week against Wilcox Central, but is playing through the injury this weekend.
He will play designated hitter and provide leadership from the dugout when the team is on the field. He agreed with Massey: The Hornets will go as far as their hitting takes them.
“I think the team is thinking getting our bats going and if we get our bats going, the defense will kick in,” Talbot said.
The Hornets will get the chance to test that strategy Friday, if Mother Nature allows.