Cancellations, postponements abound

A busy April ending on the local sports calendar grew considerably less cluttered as the weather prompted numerous cancellations and postponements.

The Powell High School golf tournament was cancelled after school officials awoke on Friday morning to a cover of 1-2 inches of freshly fallen snow. That same snowfall also produced the cancellation of Friday afternoon’s track invitational at Thermopolis.

Threats of snow, wind and unseasonably cold temperatures in Casper on Friday led Wyoming Track Classic officials to postpone that annual showcase event. A second attempt to hold the 2011 version of the Classic was scheduled for Monday afternoon, after today’s (Tuesday’s) newspaper had gone to press.

Friday’s boys’ and girls’ soccer games at Cody were held as planned, although a mixup in starting time resulted in the Panther teams showing up an hour early for the competition.

Rain and snow squalls skirted Powell on Saturday, allowing the members of the Park County Kart Club to drop the green flag on their 2011 race season. The same could not be said of Sunday’s weather in Billings.

Members of the two-time state champion Powell Pioneers trekked to Billings for a scheduled season-opener against the Blue Jays, but returned home without a pitch being thrown. Thunderstorms producing rain, small hail and cloud-to-ground lightning approached the city roughly 90 minutes before the scheduled first pitch. Combined with residual moisture from earlier rains, it was enough to prompt officials to cancel the game.

The Pioneers will attempt to open the 2011 season this Saturday with a doubleheader at Sheridan. First pitch in game 1 is scheduled for 1 p.m.