Big winds

There's half a backstop now at the Demon Diamond.

High winds swept through the area today and damage resulted at the NSU softball field. The field tarp, although staked down and weighted, was pulled up and carried into the third base side of the backstop. The weight of the tarp and the force of the wind bent poles, tore loose cables and netting, and also damaged the bullpen fence behind the NSU dugout.



Campus police sounded the alarm shortly after 11:30 and quickly a crew including police, staff from the campus grounds crew, athletic facilities director Alan Pasch and assistant Katie Harris, and the softball coaches and athletic administrators were fighting the winds for control of the tarp.

It took probably five minutes for the crew to gain enough manpower to pull it down. The tarp was shredded. Eventually, players and others helped load the tarp onto a flatbed.

As coach Becky McMurtry pointed out, the good news is nobody was struck by the stakes that were ripped up by the force of the wind pulling the tarp from the ground. The Weather Channel indicated winds were gusting up to 32 mph; I have to believe there was a lot more force at times, based on this damage and other sights around campus and Natchitoches.

Ironically, as the NCAA Basketball Tournament began tonight with the Opening Round Game in Dayton, it was nearly exactly seven years ago a severe storm hit Natchitoches early on the Monday morning the Demon basketball team was heading out of town to catch its flight to Dayton. Wind damage that morning included a tree knocked into the roof of my bedroom and miles away, damage to Lady Demon basketball coach James Smith's house and the near demolition of his neighbor's home.

Talk about the Ides of March.

Doug Ireland, SID