Stats' Spiel :: The Senses Say It's Spring

Nothing quite compares to the spring sports season at Woodland. We get to come out of our hiding in gymnasiums and hit the diamonds, tennis courts, and links. While it may be chilly during the first weeks of practices and scrimmages, soon enough the temperature will be higher than the speed of the fastballs thrown from the hill. But how can we tell that the time has come to turn the page to spring sports? Use the trusty senses, of course.

For starters, we at Woodland are immediately taken back by the brisk air on top of Rimmon Hill. The sharp wind has a bone-chilling quality to it for the first week or two. Wherever you go—whether it’s the diamond, the court, or the track—there’s no escaping the downright cold feeling of conditioning week.

Then, of course, there’s the sensation of loosening up the old muscles, especially for the dirt dogs. The first throws of the spring aren’t always the easiest, and everybody feels the little shoulder aches and crackling joints. And we must not overlook the sting of hitting with an aluminum bat for the first time in 40 degree weather…

But we can do far more than simply feel the onset of the spring sports season; we can smell it too. It’s time to escape the nasty air of indoors and break out into the clean-smelling air of our arenas. Even better, it’s time to smell success on the heels of last year, like another pair of 15-plus win seasons by the baseball and softball teams, or another Naugatuck Valley League girls’ tennis championship, or a repeat Copper Division title for the boys’ track squad.

Hopefully, the tennis players won’t have to taste a scorching serve coming right at them and hitting them in the mouth. Same goes with the softball girls eating an errant pitch—luckily, they sport face masks, so disaster should be averted.

Of course as a baseball guy, nothing tastes better than the first bag of sunflower seeds (preferably ranch) of the year. Soon, I’ll have seeds coming out of my ears and my gums will be torn up, but during these first few days of the spring, they hit the spot.

Once I get over the seed binge, the wonderful sounds of leather cracking and popping from warmup throws become audible, and right away it feels as though I haven’t skipped a beat. The tinging sound of a tennis ball springing from the racket, swooshing sound of a golf ball being driven 200 yards, and rhythm-like trotting of the trackies also let your ear know that spring sports season has arrived.

But there are some not-so-subtle sounds that also alert us to the coming of spring sports, like the stern reminders of baseball coach Joe Steele to “stick your face” into suicide squeeze bunts and the orders of track coaches Tim Shea and Jeff Lownds to get on your horse and run a mile.

And after all the other senses have had their turns, our eyes can focus on one of the most gorgeous sights I can think of—a neatly groomed, freshly lined diamond. But there’s far more. You can look around and see the tennis ball picker-upper contraption on the tennis court, the javelins soaring on the field, and the wedge trying to help a ball out of a bunker.

But how will you know that spring sports have actually arrived? I’ll know when I’m feeling the sun at the beginning of April, smelling the start of a new season, munching on some sunflower seeds, hearing “batter up!”, and taking a look at the scoreboard: zero to zero, top of the first, no outs. Play ball!