Rain Washes Out Return to Sports for Lee, Mount Everett

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires.com Sports
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LEE, Mass. -- The first sporting event involving Berkshire County high schools in six months ended in the most 2020 way possible on Tuesday at Greenock Country Club.
 
The first foursome in the match between Lee and Mount Everett teed off in a steady but light rain.
 
By the time they teed off on the second hole, it was a deluge.
 
By the time the quartet reached the third tee, there was standing water on the greens, and the coaches were sending the players to the clubhouse and talking about finding a date to reschedule.
 
“All the kids were going out there ready to play in pouring rain, and I think that’s a good sign for all of them,” Lee coach Shane Sullivan said. “That was the takeaway from the day. They all went out there, ready to play. Nobody was complaining.
 
“I think we’re all really lucky that we can play.”
 
It will be an abbreviated season in the “Fall 1” phase of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association. Just five county schools opted to field competitive teams in golf this fall. The Wildcats and Eagles will be seeing a lot of their rivals from Mount Greylock Wahconah and Monument Mountain.
 
And it was a short preseason with practices getting underway on Sept. 18. But Sullivan said his Wildcats came in with a good foundation.
 
“I think a lot of them started to get out more, and I’ve seen positive mentalies all the way around,” he said. “It seems like everybody’s doing pretty good.
 
“They played a fair amount this summer. Probably not as much as I’d like as a coach, but we’ve got a lot of baseball players out there.”
 
And Sullivan’s golf team picked up a couple of football players and a cross country runner. High school football games won’t be possible until at least “Fall 2,” the period from Feb. 22 to April 25 when the MIAA hopes to allow gridiron games depending on the status of the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
At Mount Everett, a lot of familiar faces return this fall, but the Eagles the familiarity of their “nest” at Egremont Country Club, which closed in May pending a sale. Mount Everett is playing its “home” matches this year at Wyantenuck Country Club in Great Barrington, where they will be sharing a home course with Monument Mountain.
 
Mount Everett coach Tony Bleau said his team is glad to have any kind of season, especially for its senior class, which includes 2019 Western Massachusetts Division 3 third-place finisher and state qualifier Cooper Rothvoss.
 
“Just to have the opportunity to come out and play this year has been a miracle, to be honest with you,” Bleau said. “Initially, I thought we were just going to wipe the season clean. Then, when the school committee decided to let us do it … One, we were shocked and had to scramble to get things together. But, two, we were very grateful. It’s great to get out here.
 
“I have five seniors this year. Next year, I don’t know if we’re going to have enough for a team, so we’re going to have to do some heavy recruiting if we’re going to keep this going. But this year, especially with Cooper coming off qualifying for the states, he was really upset that he wasn’t going get a chance to play.”
 
The two teams will try again Wednesday at Greenock. 
 
Mount Everett plays Monument Mountain on Thursday at Wyantenuck. 
 
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