Weather forces delays in Basin sports
CALEB PEREZ | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 months AGO
Johnson-O'Brien stadium sits covered in fresh snow Friday morning. Due to snowfall across Washington, sporting events across the Basin have either been delayed or outright canceled this weekend.
R. HANS MILLER/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Moses Lake softball field saw a light dusting of snow ahead of their home opener, however, due to weather that game as been delayed.
MOSES LAKE — Several sporting events across the Basin have been postponed this weekend due to rain and snow causing conditions on the field to be unsuitable for play. Ephrata Tigers baseball Head Coach David Tempel was out shoveling snow Friday morning to keep the field in the best condition possible to resume a planned tournament Saturday.
“This morning I got up and saw all the snow and got on the phone with my AD. We made the decision fairly quickly that games would be canceled today. We've alerted all the teams involved. We're going to shoot to try and get them all in tomorrow,” Tempel said.
Alongside Ephrata, several schools including Moses Lake, Quincy, Othello and Warden have either canceled or postponed sporting events scheduled for Friday and Saturday.
The Tigers were set to host several schools, including the Jacks and Cougars baseball teams for a two-day tournament, Tempel said. Thanks to the weather, they have delayed Friday’s games with the hopes of resuming play Saturday with a revised schedule.
If the conditions of the field improve by Saturday, teams will play a shortened tournament where each game is limited to five innings so that each school competing has a few opportunities to play.
“That's all the kids want; that's all we as coaches want, is just an opportunity to play and see where our squads are at,” Tempel said.
Though some athletes would relish the opportunity to slide through the mud or live out a scene from the Sandlot movie, the conditions of the fields create too much opportunity for risk, the coach said.
“First and foremost, we will make sure players have a safe playing surface to play on. If it were a turf field, that'd be a little bit different. But with it being a natural surface, with the dirt and so forth, and the grass there, there's just too many opportunities for something unfortunate to happen,” he said.
The Tigers Athletic Director Bryan Johnson is optimistic they can resume the tournament Saturday, however, if they are unable to it could cause teams to lose a few games to start the season.
“There might be some chances (to reschedule), but it gets tough,” Johnson said. “We got to try to cram three games in a week. So (if) you go to four games in a week, that can be taxing on pitching for baseball and pitch counts and stuff.”
Despite the delayed start to their season, Tempel is confident this won’t disrupt his team’s hopes for a strong start to the 2026 season.
“I know my guys were excited to play, but they'll just have to temper that eagerness for one more day and we'll get back out here tomorrow. Sometimes Mother Nature throws you curve balls and sometimes it rains and sometimes it snows, and you just got to adapt and adjust,” Tempel said.
See below the current postponements and cancellations for this weekend. Updates will be made to this story as more information becomes available.
Ephrata
Baseball
March 13 vs. St Bernard S Catholic, 12:30 p.m. – postponed
Boys Golf
March 13 @ Lakeview Golf & Country Club, noon – cancelled
MLHS
Baseball
March 13 vs. Kennewick, 3 p.m. – postponed
March 14 vs. Graham-Kapowsin, noon – cancelled
Softball
March 13 vs. Mt. Spokane, 3 p.m. – postponed
Boys Golf
March 13 @ Lakeview Golf & Country Club, noon – cancelled
Othello
Soccer
March 14 vs Warden, noon – cancelled
Quincy
Baseball
March 13 vs. Warden @ Ephrata HS, 12:30 p.m. – postponed
March 13 vs. St. Bernard S Catholic @ Ephrata HS, 3 p.m. – postponed
Softball
March 14 @ Medical Lake, 11 a.m., 1 p.m. – cancelled
Warden
Baseball
March 13 vs. Quincy @ Ephrata HS, 12:30 p.m. – postponed
Moses Lake softball field saw a light dusting of snow ahead of their home opener, however, due to weather that game as been delayed.ARTICLES BY CALEB PEREZ
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