Gazette-Times

High school basketball season is finally over, baseball and softball season is barely a week old and spring break is still five days away.

That means it's time to open the Mid-Willamette Conference spring sports seasons.

Corvallis and Crescent Valley will meet this week in both baseball and softball.

"I think David (Mintken, the CV coach) and I both feel like it would be nice to play the games a little later in the year," CHS baseball coach Eric Dazey said. "Baseball is a game about rhythm and playing your rival school this early in the year is less than ideal."

The Spartans (2-1) will be joined by a handful of players fresh from McArthur Court and the 5A basketball championship game when they host CV at Taylor Field today.

Those athletes will take the field without one game under their belts. While not ideal, playing a conference series before spring break is necessary to get in the full slate of 21 MWC games.

"In the way our league is structured, if we play 21 games, I don't like to play more than three in a week, so this is definitely better than the alternative," Dazey said.

The softball series will also get underway today, with CV hosting Corvallis.

Game time is 4:30 p.m. for both games. The schools will switch sites in both sports on Tuesday and wrap up the series on Thursday at the initial sites.

Inclement weather could force adjustments to that schedule.