Forty degrees never felt so warm.

It appears the blistering cold, which has plagued the area for weeks, has finally given way to the hopes of spring.

But one last mark of winter remains – the snow.

As the rays of the sun beam down, it melts this reminder of winter. Slowly but surely, the forgotten landscape reappears and all non-winter lovers rejoice in the return of the green ground.

But perhaps the people who must appreciate the disappearance of the snow most are the members of the NIU baseball and softball teams.

“I just think, like a lot of programs, we’re so tied into the weather,” NIU baseball coach Ed Mathey said. “In the five years I’ve been here, this is the first we haven’t been able to get our guys outside.”

Snow, wind and sub-zero temperatures are something all Midwest college teams face. But this year’s late winter blast has forced both teams to stay indoors longer than expected.

Both Ralph McKinzie and Mary M. Bell Field are still unusable to NIU athletes.

“It’s been brutal,” NIU third baseman Jesse Seykora said. “It’s completely a sloppy mess.”

This has forced the teams to continue to practice at the DeKalb Park District Rec Center. While the Rec Center may not have grass fields, it does offer a realistic artificial turf.

“It’s the same turf as on the football field,” NIU softball coach Donna Martin said.

Yet even the best modern technology cannot replace the actual experience of playing on a grass-and-dirt field.

Poor lighting and ceiling space has limited NIU’s practice abilities. Mathey said the two things which are the hardest to duplicate indoors is fly balls and judging distance.

“It’s like a dungeon. You can’t judge fly balls well,” Seykora said. “It sucks.”

Midwest weather also presents other challenges to both teams.

While NIU practices indoors, teams in Texas, Florida and other southern states have already started competition. NIU baseball’s first game will be against Texas Tech, which has already played 10 games this season.

“It’s an advantage if you can get outside,” NIU center fielder Pat Minogue said. “It was so cold, though it didn’t even cross our minds.”

And even if both teams were able to practice outside, they won’t host a game until late March.

NIU baseball will play its first game at McKinzie Field on March 23 and Bell Field won’t be ready until March 28.

“It’s not easy, but it’s something we’ve become accustom to,” Martin said. “If you play in the Midwest, you know you won’t play at home until March.”