Everyone is aware that Phil the groundhog wasn’t so accurate in his prediction on spring arriving early.  Two groups especially aware of that fact are the men’s baseball and women’s softball teams. In terms of weather, this may be one of the worst starts for the baseball and softball sports.  However, bad weather is not the only struggle for both teams. As of March 24, neither team played a home game.  The softball team played four away games and 10 games at neutral sites. The baseball team played 14 away games and eight at a neutral site.   Having some home games at the beginning of the season wouldn’t have hurt the Pioneers, because the close proximity and the sense of support from those in attendance brings a positive demeanor to the teams. But Point Park’s softball and baseball teams do not necessarily have home field advantage when they have their home games in the Pittsburgh area, since the teams do not have on-campus facilities. Student spectators have a harder time making it to Green Tree Park for the baseball games and Lind Field in Fairhaven for the softball games.  The dynamic of the season changed due to multiple game postponements.  Both Pioneer teams will have a busy month of April because of conference matchups along with rescheduled games from earlier months. There is even a chance that the postponed non-conference games may not be rescheduled due to scheduling conflicts.  If this happened, the Pioneers would lose out on valuable games that are sometimes considered to be tune-ups, readying teams for conference play. The softball team had four consecutive non-conference games postponed due to weather conditions.         Regardless, the Pioneer teams will eventually make their strides and move through the season.   Forecasts show temperatures will hover around the high 40s for another week.  Hopefully, spring will actually arrive, and the Pioneers can play a home game. Until then, we will all keep shoveling the snow.