WICOMICO COUNTY, Md. -- Mother Nature does not have any sympathy for athletes. When softball comes to town, she seems to have a penchant for cranking up the thermostat.
On day one of the tournament some of the teams were battling it out against feel-like temperatures of over 100 degrees. We spoke with players, parents and a grounds crew member to see how they were staying cool, but also to talk about the difficulties of playing in the heat of Wednesday.
Even as some of the earlier games got underway, there was no escaping the boiling temperatures.
Luckily, Shaianne Benson, starting pitcher for the Delaware Express, said her and her teammates are focused on staying cool.
"We try and use fans and ice and this stuff," said Benson, pointing to the cooling towel across her shoulders.
Most of the Express fans chose to catch the action from the shade, but not Albert Cabello, who recently made a very chill purchase: a solar powered bucket hat with fans.
"I figured you know with the heat coming up I might as well try it, what's the worst than can happen? That I cool off right?" said Cabello. "So I just grabbed that and it's solar powered so I have the fans pointed down at my face so this way, when it gets too, too hot, I got a little breeze coming my way."
Blistering heat doesn't just impact players and fans though. The unsung heroes of any softball tournament, the grounds crew, was out in the sun prepping fields all day long.
"It doesn't help that it's really humid out too," said Jacob Long, a grounds crew member. "I mean just sitting here you're just feeling your shirt stick to you."
As late morning turned into early afternoon, uncomfortable heat began to approach unbearable.
The Firebirds, a team from Carroll County, Maryland, were warming up for their first of two afternoon games around 1:30 p.m. The players might not have been thrilled with the temperature, but whether it was pre-game bunt drills, or in-game at bats, those girls weren't letting Mother Nature slow them down.