Heat was the decisive factor in Iola’s recreational softball and baseball games being called off Monday evening.
But in a break from normal city protocol, the edict to cancel the games came from city council members, not Recreation Director Brad Yoder.
The council voted 8-0 to cancel the games after Lisa Wicoff, mother of a player, complained about the heat while her son played on a nearby baseball diamond.
“I see a lapse of judgment in the rec department,” Wicoff said, presenting council members a report from health experts detailing the dangers of excessive heat on younger players. “We are not protecting our kids.”
The heat index peaked at 107 degrees, Wicoff noted.
Wicoff is the wife of Councilman Joel Wicoff.
Council members, after noting the city passed a weather policy last summer stipulating when games should be shortened or ended altogether, voted to cancel the evening’s contests. They directed Police Chief Jared Warner to contact the umpires at each rec league contest to inform them of the cancellations.
The cancellations drew a complaint from one coach who told audience members she had left work early in order to coach Monday’s game only to have it canceled minutes after the game started.
Yoder showed up near the end of Monday’s council meeting to discuss the matter, but did not get a chance to before the meeting adjourned.
After the meeting, he presented City Administrator Carl Slaugh with the city’s policy, that says games should be canceled only after heat indices reach 115.
The city has in place a policy that shortens games to one hour in Iola’s younger leagues when the heat index reaches 106 to 114 degrees and puts in place other provisions, such as limiting catchers from playing two innings or fewer in oppressive heat.
In any matter, council members promised to take another look at the city’s weather policy — it also contains provisions on when to call off games for lightning or other severe weather — and determine if changes need to be made in the policy or how it is applied.
Passersby at Riverside Park may have noted one doubleheader continued through the evening, with the Iola American Legion A baseball squad hosting Eureka. The Legion team is not sanctioned by the city, Warner said.
