FRANKLIN

When — not if — the skies clear, the Hurricanes and Lady Hurricanes will be able to fully unleash their abilities on the ballfield. Soggy weather of late has considerably hampered the fast pitch. For example, Coach Carrie Hoeft said the other day that the Friday and Saturday games — their first — would have to be cancelled. The next opportunity to play will be a non-conference event on Wednesday at Franklin against Stratford.

“It should be a competitive game,” said Hoeft.

The Saturday game for the Hurricanes against Catawba Valley was postponed, but the hope is to play them on Sunday. After that, the next game for PDC will be at Franklin on Wednesday against Southern Maryland.

Meanwhile, the baseball team has “gotten off to a good start,” according to Coach David Mitchell. The team, which is in the NJCAA Division II Region X, is at 3-3 so far. They won both games against Division III Rockingham on Feb. 15 (8-1; 8-6 respectively), and the other over Thomas Nelson (2-1) on Feb. 8. They fell to the Apprentice School 2-1 on Feb. 6, then to Stratford 16-4 two days later. Bryant and Stratton got the best of PDC that same day, but only by one point (12-11.) They’ll all meet again later in the season, which goes to early May.

The guys and gals are keeping in shape thanks in part to Woody Saunders who lets them use his indoor batting facility in Suffolk. There they can work on batting, catching and pitching.

Not only are the coaches guiding their respective teams, they are also looking ahead by expanding their rosters for next season.

In addition to future reportings in this paper, statistics, rosters and schedules are also available at www.pdc.edu. Go to the Athletics tab and follow through the options.

As the coaches put it, they are all ready to “get the season rolling.”