The rainy weather that made its way through the area Monday afternoon and evening put a damper on the start of the 2013 high school baseball season.

All three county high school teams, Lenoir City, Loudon and Greenback, were forced to reschedule regular season openers due to wet field conditions.

Only the Panthers were scheduled to begin their season Monday, when the rain was falling. Lenoir City was scheduled to host district favorite Farragut, which ranks as one of the top teams in the state according to the Associated Press.

Now, the Panthers will begin their season with another district opponent, Bearden.

Lenoir City will host the Bulldogs at 6 p.m. Wednesday and finishes out the week at home against Kingston at 7:15 p.m. Friday.

The Farragut game has been pushed back to April 28 and will give Lenoir City a stretch of eight games in nine days to finish the regular season before beginning the district tournament May 3.

Loudon was scheduled to take to the road Tuesday night against Harriman, but that game was also called off as the field was too muddy to play.

Now the Redskins will start their season at the McMinn County Tournament at McMinn Central High School.

They will face Springfield at 2 p.m. Thursday, McMinn Central at 2 p.m. Friday, Harland County, Ky., at noon Saturday and Notre Dame at 5 p.m. Saturday.

Loudon will then have four days off before playing in their own tournament March 21-23.

Greenback was to open its season at home  with McMinn Central Tuesday night but similar conditions to those at Harriman pushed the game back.

Instead, the Cherokees' regular season will begin Thursday when they host Meigs County at 5 p.m.
Lenoir City's softball team is scheduled to begin its regular season Friday when they take part in the Coalfield Tourney.

The Lady Panthers will play Oliver Springs at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Oakdale at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Coalfield at 1:30 p.m. Saturday and Oneida at 3 p.m. Saturday.

Loudon softball will open season at 5:30 p.m. Monday at Catholic, and Greenback softball opens at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Midway.

Loudon and Lenoir City boys' soccer are scheduled to play at Loudon Tuesday at 7 p.m.