Spring Break Costs Maine South

Spring break.

It gives students a respite from school and it gives coaches ofspring sports fits.

Some coaches have a cut-and-dried rule: Go on spring break, youare off the team.Others are little more lenient.Maine South coach Jerry Romes is the latter.It cost his Hawks this spring.The five seniors on the Maine South baseball team opted to leavetown during spring break.They did, and the weather broke enough that the Hawks got in sixgames.When the seniors returned, they had to serve suspensionsmatching the number of games they missed.In this case, the punishment ranged from three to six."We had a problem with spring break," Romes said. "In the past,we only had one or two (leave)."John Schacke, second baseman-turned-third baseman, was the onlyone who gave much advance notice.Steve Westman and Tom Modzelewski decided to take their chancesand head to Texas to try and play some baseball.Jim Griffith, who has since turned in his uniform, and ScottGatziolis also went on break."It is a shame to have to deal with these problems," Romes said."It disrupts the flow of what is happening when kids leave like that.We still don't have the chemistry."It did give younger players a chance, but all five seniors endedup playing different positions than expected."I thought we could challenge for the conference title," Romessaid. "In our division now, Deerfield and Glenbrook North look likethe teams."To make matters worse, the Hawks (2-12) have four starters downwith injuries.Maine South athletics had a successful fall: the soccer teamreached the sectional final and football team won a statechampionship."Next year, we either won't schedule games during spring breakor they won't be on the team," Romes said.