BLOWN AWAY

Blown away by wind and snow and rain.

A slew of games, matches and meets were cancelled last week due to some of Montana's famous early-spring or, depending on how you look at it, late-winter weather.

Although many of those sporting events will be made up, others may simply not be contested this spring and will be filed into the trash bin of wasted opportunities for the prep athletes of western Montana.

Fortunately, our three months of February weather should break soon and the athletes can then begin making up for lost time (and sunshine?) in the coming weeks.

In softball, the Thompson Falls Lady Hawks and the Plains Trotters both had their plans curtailed severely the past few weeks.

Planning to take to the road and play Anaconda Friday, stay in Anaconda Friday night and then play a doubleheader with the Lady Wardens Saturday in Deer Lodge, coach Jared Koskela and his Lady Hawks instead stayed home for the weekend, looking outside through rain-streaked windows.

Similarly prepared to host Drummond for a doubleheader Friday and then set to play Loyola and Manhattan Christian in Missoula Saturday, coach Michele Bangen and the Plains Trotters also had their weekend softball plans scuttled because of weather.

All is not lost however as the Hawks have rescheduled their trip to Deer Lodge for April 28, while the Trotters will host Drummond for that doubleheader this Friday, and will now play Manhattan Christian in Missoula April 20.

Thompson Falls will try to make up the game with Anaconda at a later date, Falls athletic director Jake Mickelson told the Ledger, and Bangen says they are looking for an open date to make up the game with Loyola.

"We ended up having a two-week break in games but will now have a lot of games in a hurry," Bangen said. "We have been working hard and are hoping to get these games in, we want the fun part of the season to get going."

In track and field, meet officials cancelled the Frenchtown Invitational Saturday the day before it was scheduled after getting a good look at the weather forecast. That meet will not be made up.

Hoping to get back on track, so to speak, area thinclads have two meets scheduled this week. Hot Springs will host its annual Dave Tripp Memorial in Polson Friday, and the MCPS Invitational will be contested at Missoula County Public Stadium Saturday.

Although it was raining Tuesday, many western Montana teams, including those from Thompson Falls, were competing in the Florence Invitational in Corvallis at press time that day, and results will appear in next week's Ledger.

Also hampered by the weather, the local prep golf season should resume this Saturday at Wild Horse Golf Course in Plains at the Plains Invitational.

A junior varsity tourney that was planned in Plains last Friday was scratched due to bad weather here, there and everywhere else in western Montana last week.