Forest Park softball battles winter weather, eyes April 28 opener

With about four inches of slush and ice still covering the field, Forest Park’s softball team has had to put off full outdoor practice and make do with batting cages, conditioning and fundamentals as it counts down to its April 28 opener.

That delay has shaped every part of Kimberly Pekarek’s fourth season as head coach. The Lady Trojans have been trying to sharpen timing and chemistry inside, then fit what they can onto a field that still is not ready for regular work. Pekarek said the staff has been moving players around to find the best fit, a necessary adjustment for a small-school roster that includes several newer players and only a few seniors who have seen it all.

Those seniors are Jonnie Kethola, Jessie Loehr and Maykayli Carlson, and all three have played every season of their high school careers. That kind of continuity has given Forest Park a steadier base than many programs have this time of year, even as the weather keeps stealing practice days. Loehr, a strong center fielder who also could see time in the circle for the opener, stands out as one of the team’s most important pieces. She said a district win would make the season a success, a straightforward goal for a group still fighting to get on the field.

Forest Park’s situation also shows how spring sports in the Upper Peninsula can lag far behind the calendar. The Michigan High School Athletic Association’s softball schedule calls for practice to begin March 9 and first contests on March 18, yet Iron County weather has kept the Trojans indoors well into mid-April. At Gogebic-Iron County Airport, average April temperatures climb from about 44 degrees for a high and 26 for a low early in the month to about 59 and 37 by the end, but Crystal Falls has not warmed fast enough this year to clear the field in time for a normal buildup.

The program has still built momentum in recent seasons. Forest Park softball was approved by the school board only two years before that postseason stretch, and the team has already shown it can win, including a 6-3 start through nine games in one season and a five-win start through six games in another.

Pekarek also has help from a new voice in the dugout. Hannah Trzeciak, a 2016 Forest Park graduate and Northern Michigan University alumna, is in her first year as assistant coach and said she is excited to help create opportunities for younger girls after not having a school softball team herself as a teenager. In a spring still locked behind ice and slush, that return adds another layer of continuity to a program learning to grow despite the weather.