OTTUMWA — It was supposed to be the busiest three-day stretch Jennifer Sabourin has had in her first season as Indian Hills softball coach.

A regional doubleheader Thursday against Southeastern in West Burlington, three more games Friday back home on the opening day of the Reed & Reed Invitational and two games to close the tournament on Saturday.

Mother Nature has Sabourin’s load.

Unseasonably cold weather put a hold on the Warriors’ road trip to Southeastern and forced the cancellation of the Warriors’ five-game home tournament.

“I feel bad that we miss a chance to play at home, but Mother Nature just didn’t allow us to get this in,” Sabourin said. “It gets to a point where it gets too cold for things. If it gets to a point where we’re bundled up in parkas in the dugout, it’s kind of ridiculous.”

The Indian Hills softball team isn’t the only area squad to have the wintery weather force changes in the schedule. Three different Ottumwa High School athletic events have been either postponed or completely wiped out due to the 30-degree conditions.

The Ottumwa girls tennis squad had their action at Dan Staggs Court against Dowling Catholic on Thursday postponed. The two teams rescheduled their meeting for eight days later on Friday, April 13.

The Bulldogs’ girls soccer team also had their action Thursday at Mount Pleasant postponed due to the weather. Two teams had yet to reschedule their game as of press time.

The Ottumwa boys track team’s run at the Keokuk Relays will not take place this season. The meet, scheduled for tonight, was canceled Thursday as conditions were not expected to get much better heading into what could be a very frigid Easter Weekend.

“It just wasn’t very promising,” Sabourin said looking at the weekend weather forecast. “It looked like the weather wasn’t going to get any warmer then 30 degrees. We just didn’t feel like it would be worth playing softball this weekend.”

Indian Hills will make up their regional double dip with the Blackhawks on Monday, April 16. The timing certainly isn’t great for the Warriors, who would have taken on Southeastern just two days after opening regional play with two one-run wins at Iowa Western on Tuesday.

IHCC next hits the field in the much more warmer air of Arizona. The Warriors will spend next week in the desert in and around Phoenix, playing three doubleheaders against squads from the around the Central Arizona area.

Indian Hills will have just two days off after returning from a spring break trek to the west before taking on the Blackhawks. IHCC then plays the following day in Keokuk against Illinois Central before returning home two days later for a doubleheader rematch with Iowa Western at Hellyer Field.

“Without the weather, we would have loved to have played on Thursday,” Sabourin said. “It was good to get two away at Iowa Western and getting two more at Southeastern would have given us a lot of momentum going into this weekend and then heading out to Arizona.

“Now, we’ll have to come back (from Arizona), have two days off and head to Southeastern.”