Unseasonably warm weather greeted area baseball and softball players on the first official day of practice.

Warren Central baseball coach Randy Broome enjoyed having the pleasant conditions.

&#8220It’s not your typical January weather, that’s for sure,” Broome said. &#8220Most of the time it’s so cold, we’re all bundled up in coats and gloves, but not today.”

Across town at Vicksburg High, Gators coach Jamie Creel had his charges going through a 2-hour plus workout. Twenty two players are out for baseball while another 10 are still active in basketball or soccer.

&#8220We’ve got everybody healthy and we’re looking forward to a big year,” Creel said.

The early emphasis for the veteran VHS coach will be completeness.

&#8220Being able to complete things is what I’m looking at,” he said. &#8220We want to be able to be complete at the plate and with plays in the field. If we can finish the play, we’ve got a chance to put everything together.”

For Broome, the Vikings’ emphasis is finding more pitching. WC had a big off-season injury when returning ace and All-Warren County product Parker White underwent Tommy John surgery in September.

&#8220He’s going to be able to start his throwing program this week and we’ll just see how it goes,” Broome said. &#8220He’s still in re-hab and we’re not going to rush it.

&#8220That’s why finding more pitching is a need for us. We’ve got the arms, but we need to find those one or two stud arms. Right now we’ve got three senior guys who’ll have to carry the load early in Josh Gordon, Nick Carson and Eric Douglas.

&#8220Porter Holliday has some potential and Jeff Ward was good this summer.”

The Vikings will work on flat ground drills for much of the first week, building up to the start of intrasquad games. Broome said he had 19 to open practice Monday with three others still playing winter sports.

&#8220We should have 22 for our varsity and jv teams,” he said.

Teams will have a month to prepare for the season openers.

&#8220We’ll be doing game-like situations every day,” Creel added. &#8220And then we’ll have intrasquad games every Saturday.”

Vicksburg opens it season against Franklin County on Feb. 18, while WC has picked up a pair of road games at Louisville and Neshoba Central.

Practice also began for the fastpitch softball players at Vicksburg and Warren Central.

Missy Gators coach Kori Crutchfield had 18 players out for the opening practice. Two others are playing soccer and one is with the basketball team.