NATCHEZ — For much of the year, the Miss-Lou has been in a double-digit rainfall deficit. But a lot of rain over the last two weeks has put a big dent in that deficit.

However, all that rain from first a slow-moving upper-level low pressure and then the remnants of Tropical Storm Fay have made getting area fast-pitch and slow-pitch softball games played a tough task.

And for the coaches of Adams County Christian School, Trinity Episcopal, Cathedral and Centreville Academy, rescheduling the games that have been rained out — especially the district games — has been a nightmare.

So far this season, the ACCS Lady Rebels have only been able to play four of their eight games. Unfortunately, as of last Thursday, they have not been able to play a single MPSA District 3-AA game so far this season.

“It’s to the point that we’re unable to reschedule. Out of four district games so far, we’ve been able to play zero,” coach Rick Fife said. “So the whole first half of district has been cancelled due to rain.”

Not only that, but the rain has also had a huge affect on the team practice.

“The last time we practiced was a couple of weeks ago. The only ones who’ve practiced are our pitchers and catchers,” Fife said. “Sometimes we have a practice batting cage, but it has rainwater in it, so the only place we’ve been able to practice is indoors in the gym.”

Their game at Prairie View Academy on Aug. 12 was rescheduled for Sept. 16.

And if that wasn’t enough, they were supposed to play district games at home against Riverfield last Tuesday and at River Oaks in Monroe, La., last Thursday.

But both of those games were postponed due to too much rain and wet grounds. And today’s game against Trinity Episcopal at the Natchez-Adams Girls Softball Complex is a question mark.

“Some of our players are frustrated. The way the weather has been, we won’t be able to play (today). So that’s five games rained out,” Fife said.

Fife added that the Riverfield and River Oaks games may be rescheduled as a doubleheader, but that is not definitive.

Also, Monday’s non-district home game against the Wilkinson County Christian Academy Lady Rams was washed out after two to three inches of rain fell last Sunday due to Fay’s remnants.

Cathedral head coach Rick Blackwell said his team has had only one game cancelled because of the weather — Aug. 7 at Vicksburg. That will not be rescheduled.

But the rain has forced the Lady Green Wave to move their practice indoors a few times the last few weeks.

“It has affected our practice. We’ve had to go to the gym a couple of times. We were able to get in the batting cage,” Blackwell said. “It hasn’t really hurt us that bad. This week might be a different story.”

The Lady Green Wave was also schedule to play in the Richland Tournament on Aug. 16, but that was called off due to inclement weather. However, they were scheduled to take on Amite County in a pair of varsity doubleheaders this season, but Amite County cancelled its season. Blackwell said if that had not been the case, all four games would have been rained out.”

“That game at Amite hurt us. We’ve got the holiday (Labor Day) coming up. If we can’t do anything else, we’ll go to the batting cage and get some practice in,” Blackwell said.

Cathedral doesn’t play again until Thursday, Sept. 4 when it hosts Bogue Chitto in the Region 7-1A opener.

Trinity Episcopal has also had its share of games either postponed or cancelled due to the weather. The scheduled season-opener at home against WCCA was cancelled. Then its District 3-AA opener at Riverfield in Lake Providence, La., was rained out and rescheduled for Saturday, Sept. 6.

Last week, its home game at Huntington was cancelled and its district game at home against Prairie View was rescheduled from last Thursday to Monday. But too much rain from Fay’s remnants last Sunday forced the District 3-AA game between Prairie View and Trinity to be postponed yet again for Sept. 9 and it will be a varsity doubleheader at Prairie View in Bastrop, La.

Lady Saints first-year head coach Richy Spears the rescheduling of games as well as the lack of practice has been difficult not only on him, but the players as well.

“We haven’t played in a week and a half. It’s been a headache. The girls have been frustrated. I’ve been frustrated. They want to play. I want to play. We’ve only been able to get in the cage a couple of times, but we haven’t been able to take the infield or the outfield. There’s nothing you can do about it, though.”

As for how tough it’s been for him to reschedule the games, Spears said, “Real difficult because everyone’s schedule has been full and it has been a headache, really.”

Centreville has also felt the affects of the rain that has hit the area in recent weeks. First, its District 5-AA game at Bowling Green School in Franklinton, La. was postponed. Then it, like WCCA, got in just one game at the Silliman Tournament in Clinton, La., on Aug. 16.

Two non-district games – at WCCA last Tuesday and home against Copiah Academy last Thursday – were postponed due to the weather and might be rescheduled. Then its district game at Oak Forest Academy in Amite, La., was postponed due to the rain from the remnants of Fay. And today’s district home game against Bowling Green may also be rescheduled.

And that has had Centreville head coach Mark Mann scrambling to find open dates to fill in those district games that have to be played.

“It’s hard. You don’t play for a week and they you get two or three games in. We had things rolling the first couple of weeks and then the rains roll in. It’s affected us,” Mann said. “The more you play the more continuity you get.”

Mann added that all the rain has had a significant affect on the amount of practice the Lady Tigers have been able to get in.

“It takes you off the field. We’ve been fortunate enough to access to have cages that have covers on them,” Mann said. “But we’ve been on the field just once the last couple of weeks. It affects you mentally. You get fired up and get ready to play and then you don’t play.”

Mann noted that trying to reschedule the games has been quite a tough task for him to figure out – especially with an already tight schedule to begin with.

“It’s very difficult. Once football starts, you only have three days to play and that’s Monday, Tuesday and Saturday. You have tournaments on Saturdays. It’s going to force us to play three or four district games in a week instead of two,” Mann said. “It’s going to make it tough. The bulk of our district schedule is going to be in about two, two and a half weeks.”