George Guido: Extended winter will tax baseball, softball teams

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, April 11, 2018 | 12:12 AM

For pro wrestling fans, WWE stands for World Wrestling Entertainment.

For those associated with high school spring sports in Western Pennsylvania, WWE means Winter Without End.

Bad weather has plagued the first 17 days of the scholastic sports season. About a dozen schools went into action Tuesday without having played a game.

Hampton, Indiana and Sto-Rox baseball were among those who hadn't played a game. In softball, Woodland Hills, Montour and Shady Side Academy sported 0-0 records.

And the halfway point of the WPIAL section season is supposed to be April 18.

Other parts of the country have been luckier. North Gwinett High School, outside of Atlanta, has played 22 games as of last Thursday.

Coppell, Texas, has played 23 games as of April 5. Safe to say no WPIAL school will play 23 games unless it goes deep into the playoffs.

Forecasts call for more seasonable weather this weekend. But we'll believe it when we see it.

Something fans might not realize is WPIAL baseball and softball games that are halted by inclement weather prior to becoming a legal game must be resumed at the earliest possible playing date. That can be confused with the Major League Baseball standard where a game that is stopped prior to becoming a legal game is started over.

On another note, if the baseball schedule keeps getting backed up, pitching staffs could be taxed. A relatively new rule is that a pitcher cannot pitch on three consecutive days, even though the rulebook states that one doesn't need rest if 25 or less pitches are thrown.

Meanwhile, the key WPIAL dates to remember are May 8 for softball and May 10 for baseball. Those are the dates section action must be completed.

The playoffs are set to begin the week of May 14.

Remembering Szydlik

Former Highlands football coach Don Szydlik died last month in Virginia. He was 79.

Szydlik, born in the Natrona section of Harrison Township, had been living with his son, Todd, in Smithfield, Va.

Szydlik became coach in 1980 when Highlands was a Class AAAA school when that classification was introduced. Against all odds, the Golden Rams went 8-2, losing only to section powers Penn Hills and Gateway.

In 1982, Highlands qualified for the WPIAL playoffs and gave New Castle all it could handle before losing 27-19.

A believer in the old-style, milltown football, Szydlik's teams relied on down-lineman strength and running the football.

Each preseason, he would say his team was going to pass the ball more, but everyone knew he would revert back to power formations.

Szydlik possessed a wry sense of humor in interviews. You really had to get to know him before you could determine if he was joking.

Before coming to Highlands, he was one of the final head coaches in Braddock football history. He attended Elon and was honored as one of the team's outstanding football players in 1960.

The Szydlik family asked that donations be made in his name to the American Diabetes Association.

George Guido is a Valley News Dispatch scholastic sports correspondent. His column appears Wednesdays.

Tags: Highlands