The Orcutt Academy Girls Soccer program is in the midst of a CIF Central Section playoff run but their home field, Rice Ranch at Orcutt Community Park, is unplayable due to the rain, forcing them to move their Tuesday night semifinal against Hanford West to Santa Maria High School’s turf field.
“It's something that's always on my mind as the athletic director at this particular school because of the facility issue,” explained Bridgette De Palma-Steed, Orcutt Academy Athletic Director.
Barring lightning, the game will be played Tuesday at 7 p.m., knowing that rescheduling a game, let alone one in the playoffs, is a serious hurdle for a team without a playable field.
“We want our kids to have the opportunity," De Palma-Steed said. "We don't want to be rescheduling things. It's kind of crazy for us.”
The rain not only poses problems for Orcutt Academy but also for local Santa Maria club programs like Central Coast Surf Soccer that use soccer fields like the Crossroads Basin Fields for their practices.
“We don't usually have soccer when it's this bad, and it's really delayed everything for all the teams prepping for either State Cup or just getting ready for tournaments," said Bill Reynolds, Central Coast Surf President. "We have no practice field, so we're scrounging to find field space.”
For club programs like Central Coast Surf in the Santa Maria area, readjusting schedules comes with limited options. Surf has 50 teams alone that are looking for alternatives to the flooded fields.
Some of the only solutions include using local high schools with turf fields or indoor facilities, but there is only one indoor facility that can be used in the Santa Maria area and high schools seldom allow outside clubs in.
“It always goes back to the liability and insurance, that’s why a lot of high schools actually shut down to a lot of outside clubs or anybody outside the high school," explained Gerry Rodriguez, Surf Director of Coaching.
The only other indoor facility that is not a high school is the Central Coast Sports Arena at the Santa Maria Fairpark, which means the only alternative is just waiting it out which can take 3-4 weeks before the basin fields drain out.
“We get so many inches of rain and this happens. We’re stuck. We can’t do much about it," Rodriguez said.
