Please excuse Arnie Trufley if he and his Moniteau High School baseball team are experiencing a bit of cabin fever.

Midway through April, when in most springs baseball and softball teams are deep into their schedules, the Warriors have played precious few games.

They are not alone.

Most area baseball and softball teams have played very few games six weeks into this spring sports season.

Most teams have played fewer than half of the games they played by this time last season. Some have played only a fourth of the games they played in 2003.

To make matters worse, outdoor practices are impossible on waterlogged fields. Infield practices are conducted not on the dirt and grass of a baseball diamond, but on the cement and blacktop of a school parking lot - if it isn't raining or in some cases, snowing.

The score so far stands at Mother Nature 1, Spring Sports 0.

"This is the worst weather of any spring since I've been coaching by far," said Trufley, who is in his eighth year as Moniteau baseball coach. "I remember playing Brookville a couple of years ago, and after the game, some of the guys jumped in the creek to go swimming.

"This year, they can just jump into the infield to go swimming."

El Nino can't be blamed for this one. It's just one of those things, coaches say.

Trufley's job has been made tougher this year. Not only does he have to coach baseball, he has had to dabble in sports psychology.Keeping his players' morale high has been a big challenge. Not just the weather is dreary; so is the players' psyche."I can see it in their eyes. They are bummed," Trufley said. "I can hear them say, 'Not the gym again.' There's only so much you can do inside."The situation is even more dire for the Butler softball team, which has practiced outside only four times this entire spring and has played just two games."Obviously, we've practiced inside a lot. We've gone over every scenario, every play," said Butler coach Tanya Schnur. "But it's not the same until you can get outside."Knoch softball coach Julia Nesbitt also is feeling the gym walls closing in on her and her team."We just do what we can," Nesbitt said. "It's just not the same. You can't do relay throws and cutoffs from the outfield because the outfield is five feet away."Nesbitt has resorted to mixing up her indoor practices, trying to liven them up for her players.That has included making contests out of nearly every activity, including the warmup drills."I wish we had a dome," Nesbitt said, chuckling. "But I don't think that will happen. All you can do is keep the kids interested."Karns City baseball coach Dave McElroy also has resorted to formulating hitting contests in practice.In the indoor batting cage, players can score points by hitting line drives off the back net.It's the only solution for McElroy, who has seen his Gremlins play just three games this season."You have to get creative," McElroy said.

Now that the forecast calls for dry and warm weather, the real stress will begin for baseball and softball coaches.With many games already postponed, teams will be faced with daunting schedules that will include as many as six games in a week.It's been a nightmare for athletic directors, too, who have been forced to do some creative rescheduling.It may also force some non-league games to be lost.Moniteau already has three doubleheaders scheduled.What worries coaches is the toll playing so many games in so short a time will do to the health of their pitching staff."That's what I'm concerned about," McElroy said. "Instead of having two or three pitchers you can count on, you're going to have to get five or six people ready."And it will also affect the quality of play.With pitchers on the mound who aren't used to pitching and outfielders fielding fly balls for the first time in the spring, it could make for an interesting time as play resumes."There's going to be a lot of runs scored," Trufley said.

Some teams have been able to weather the storm.The Grove City High School baseball team was able to play Wednesday while every other team was relegated to indoor or parking lot practices.Eagles coach Pat Forese said despite only playing three games, his team isn't that far behind."We're not really in all that bad shape," Forese said. "We've been fortunate because our field drains pretty well."Mars was able to play some games in Columbia, S.C., early in the season, but like most teams, found the going rough when it returned this spring."It was really hard leaving Columbia, where it was 79, 80 degrees and coming back to rain and snow and indoor practices," said Mars coach Andy Bednar.But Forese sums it up the best. Everyone is under the same sky, dreary or otherwise."This weather - it is just spring in Western Pennsylvania," Forese said.