The Hartselle High School softball team was supposed to kick off their season Friday with a tournament in Hazel Green, but the weather determined otherwise.

They have only seen three days on the field due to the cold. Head coach Christy Ferguson said she hopes their confinement to the field house doesn’t affect their performance at the start of the season.

“Hopefully we will have practiced enough to perform well when we do get to play,” Ferguson said. “We are very fortunate though to have the indoor facilities we have. I have talked to other coaches who only have a tiny gym for practice in the cold.”

Ferguson said the first game of the season has been cancelled for the last three seasons now.

“For the last two years, our opening game against Bob Jones has been rescheduled, makingthe Hazel Green tournament our opener,” Ferguson said. “We usually don’t have a good tournament when that happens, but this year the tournament fell before the Bob Jones game. We might not get to play either one, but maybe it will give us a better start to the season than we have been having.”

Ferguson said she and the team are more than ready to get their season started.

The Lady Tigers are ranked No. 3 in MaxPreps’ Alabama Fab 5 poll of all the state classifications after their title season. Ferguson said she uses the publicity as a motivator.

“I make sure the girls know that everyone else wants to see them lose because of their success,” Ferguson said. “I never want them to get complacent. We take the ranking as a compliment, but we also know it’s a target too.”