Coaches are control freaks.

It is by their nature and by their profession to micromanage almost every aspect of every single thing related to their team.

It is understandable, especially for college coaches, because their livelihood depends on how 18- to 22-year-olds will play and react in certain situations.

But no matter how much they try to protect their athletes from certain scenarios or possibilities, there’s one factor they can’t control at all.

The weather.

But now warmer temperatures (at least until Wednesday of this week) will become more common that the calendar has hit early April.

For coaches who coach indoor sports, this isn’t a problem.

For spring and most of the fall coaches here at Eastern, whether their team plays a game or a match, all depends on this uncontrollable variable.

And the Charleston weather wreaked havoc with some of the Eastern athletic events earlier this week.

Baseball and tennis canceled their games even before Tuesday’s storm hit.

However, Eastern’s softball squad optimistically looked at weather radars, hoping for the rain to stop and its game against Ball State to begin at its scheduled time of 4 p.m.

It didn’t begin at 4.

It didn’t begin at 4:30, or 5.

Players waited in the dugout patiently, listened to music playing over the loudspeakers, while the Williams Field bleachers sat empty.

Players started to venture out onto the rain-soaked tarp at Williams Field, practicing their dance moves to certain songs, and for one short span, having mock at-bats in the rain.

The tarp was on until 5:10, but then the sun began to slowly creep through the clouds.

Once the tarp was removed, Eastern head coach Kim Schuette and her three assistants, plus members of the grounds crew, went to work on the field.

Rakes were put to use, bags to dry up the wet dirt were dumped on the field and foul lines were chalked again.

The patience and hard work paid off, with the first pitch being thrown at 6:15 p.m., more than two hours after it was scheduled to.

Only one game of the scheduled softball doubleheader was played, but it was a memorable one.

The Panthers rallied for four runs in the bottom of the seventh to earn a 4-3 win, their fourth in their last five games.

But this game happened because Williams Field has lights, unlike Coaches Stadium or Darling Courts.

Eastern head coach Kim Schuette said after the game that if a team has lights, why not try to play a game?

Only two Eastern athletic facilities have lights (Williams Field and O’Brien Stadium).

Who knows if the baseball team could have played its scheduled game against Saint Xavier or the tennis teams could have played its matches against Western Illinois.

It’s inexcusable for Eastern to have Division I athletics and not have all their facilities have lights.

Without lights, these teams weren’t in control of the situation – one of a coach’s worst feelings.