Check out team capsules of all the spring sports teams in Japan, minus track.

MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan – David Carrano fed another softball into the pitching machine, angled to send the balls skyward, resembling fly balls to the outfield.

Snow, ever prevalent until as late as April at Misawa, had melted just enough that Robert D. Edgren could use a parking lot between school buildings for practice. The sun angled down in the western skies and the temperatures dipped toward the 40-degree mark.

“First step is back,” Carrano, the Eagles second-year coach, said as a couple of balls sailed over the players’ heads.

More times than not, they spend most of February and March practicing indoors at the high school gym. So, too, does Edgren’s baseball team, while the track and soccer teams practice at Misawa’s Weasels’ Den up the street, since Misawa’s fields are still snow-covered.

“We just have to make do with what we have,” Carrano said.

It puts all of Edgren’s teams at a disadvantage, compared to their counterparts at Zama, Nile C. Kinnick and Yokota in the Tokyo area and Matthew C. Perry and E.J. King in southwestern Japan, where snow is not that much of a bother.

“We don’t make it an excuse for our ability to play baseball,” Eagles longtime baseball coach Brett Lehner said; his Eagles did win Far East tournaments in 2012 and 2013. “We just have to use the resources we have. When we’re outside, that’s when we make the most progress.”

Making things worse, the DODEA-Pacific spring sports season started two weeks earlier than it has in years past. The season-ending Far East tournaments are slated for April 24-26, three weeks earlier than usual.

It’s either that or playing Far Easts in mid- to late-May, as they were until 2019. The regular season and Far Easts previously sandwiched the two-week Advanced Placement testing period in which sports were pretty much shut down. A choice between the frying pan or the fire.

“We’ve always had this, but starting two weeks earlier makes it harder,” Lehner said. “It’s unfortunate, but it is what it is.”

Edgren’s baseball and softball teams visit Yokota this weekend to open the season, while the soccer teams travel to Kinnick. DODEA-Japan track season doesn’t begin until March 4.

Another DODEA-Japan school is facing field issues of a different sort. E.J. King normally plays its home soccer games at Nimitz Park, adjacent to Sasebo Naval Base.

But the soccer field is being renovated, forcing the Cobras to either play all their games on the road or seek local fields on which to play. The baseball and softball fields remain untouched for now.

For this weekend’s openers, King’s soccer teams will play at Matthew C. Perry, while the Cobras’ baseball and softball teams will play off base at Iwakuni’s Atago complex.

Elsewhere, Kinnick’s baseball and softball teams travel to Zama, while the Trojans soccer teams visit Yokota on Friday.

Soccer

With every new season, teams face the usual spate of transfers and graduations, with the PCS sometimes being good to teams and others not so good.

Kinnick’s boys lost four players who combined for 88 goals and 50 assists, but welcome former Edgren midfielder Elias Alvord, who will team with two brother pairs: Leon and Koboyo Awesso and Yuta and Takuya Raqueno.

“They have range, they can play back and support, they’re smart and they’re physical,” coach Tim Rippeth said. “I feel like we’re deep at every position. We have people who can step in and play and not lose a step. It’s a pretty skilled group.”

Kinnick’s girls also welcome back a solid group of veterans along with six freshmen, four of whom are not new to the game. “If we can keep the pieces together, we have a shot,” coach Nico Hindie said.

Though Yokota’s boys and girls lost their top scorers Owen Taylor and Keiya Carlson, they bring back the boys’ leading scorer Senna Solberg and Lilly Wellons and Hailey Riddels on the girls side, and each brings in youngsters who know the game.

Yokota’s boys lost their goalkeeper Zemon Davis to an ACL tear during basketball. Still, the Panthers have two others vying to start in net.

“You can’t replace him (Davis), he’s a one-of-a-kind athlete,” coach Trent Anderson said. “But with the two keepers we have now, we might have put him in the field.”

E.J. King’s boys and girls teams have an unusual situation: the school’s athletics director Ricky Andrew and his wife, Mitzi, are coaching both teams.

Both Cobras teams are a year older and a year more experienced, with Amin Alipourkashki and Ryo Tominaga back for the boys and Madylyn O’Neill, Miu Best, Aileen FitzGerald and the girls’ leading scorers Maliwan Schinker returning.

“The girls are pretty familiar with each other,” Andrew said of the foursome who have played other sports together.

Perry’s boys and girls each lost their leading scorers, but are hoping others can step up and fill those voids, Kirby Kendrick and Dominic Williams on the boys side and McKenzie Mitchell on the girls side.

The girls have 13 players back in total from last season. “We’re still rebuilding, but we should be competitive in every match,” coach Daniel Burns said.

“I’m excited to see how far we can take it with this young team,” 19th-year boys coach Mark Lange said.

Zama, too, lost its key scorers and each team has a new coach, but both Chad Guisinger and Jill Smith are hopeful of good things from Kaisei Muta and Marques Cuffie for the boys and Jessica Horton and Avery Pilch for the girls.

“It’s going to take time, we’re still young,” girls assistant coach Kazumichi Omi said. “We have to develop more if we want to win.”

Once Edgren gets outdoors, the boys do have some players who know the game, such as senior Axel Nogueras and sophomore Sebastian Sanchez, while the girls look to a senior core of Samara Whitmore, Karin Lozier and Abby Erler.

Baseball

It may take a week or three for Zama to overcome some early injuries, and losing right-hander Kai Kuroda to unexpected transfer will hurt. But coach Dirk Schmiedel is hopeful that the Trojans can contend by season’s end.

Other than Kuroda, all of last year’s starters return, including team RBI leader Ayden Moore. Junior Kierstyn Aumua starts at second base for the third year. Blaeson Moore led the team in almost all offensive categories last season.

Schmiedel is hoping the team takes the lessons they learned from the DODEA-Japan tournament last spring, when “we underperformed and allowed late leads to slip away. They have put in a lot of work … to ensure we don’t have a similar experience.”

Imagine having such a wealth of pitching that your last year’s ace, Dylan Tomas, will play first base.

That’s Yokota, which has junior hurlers Casey Bumpers and Taiga Arakaki and sophomore Ayden Oh; the latter played in Virginia before coming to Yokota. Freshman Davi Shima Enes De Souza can also pitch.

“We have a good core,” assistant coach Marlon Tomas said.

Kinnick welcomes new coach Skyler Tomisato, who returns core seniors Phillip Menard at shortstop and Josiah Chambers, who will pitch and play third base. Matt Casey returns to Kinnick after two years in the States and will serve as a utility man.

Edgren returns seniors Braden Perez and Evan Kunns on a team that has no juniors, two sophomores and mostly freshmen, Lehner said. Sophomores Hajime Reed and Jayse Ulechong have played football and basketball.

First-year King coach Matthew Carl has to overcome the loss of six starters to transfer or graduation, and of starting shortstop Nolan FitzGerald to a wrist injury. But he does have junior Colin Schrader as his staff ace and sophomore Neo Purification behind the plate.

Softball

Could Brad Cramer, who coached Matthew C. Perry to Far East championships in cross country and marksmanship, win three Far East titles in one school year, which no Matthew C. Perry coach has done?

Samurai softball returns nine players from last year, including four-year veteran infielder Sera Shimakura, along with some freshmen who have played the game before. So there’s every chance he could.

“We are jelling as a team, communicating well and showing growth every single day,” Cramer said. “The new players are great at fitting in. (We’re) hoping for a solid season and (to) be competitive.”

Elsewhere, Remi Sherratt has been waiting for this season more than any other. The senior infielder has suffered one injury after another and hasn’t played a complete season in any sport since her sophomore year.

But she feels she’s ready to close out her high school years with a full softball season. “I’m more confident than I was last year,” Sherratt said. The Trojans are bolstered by Kalease Brown, a transfer from King, and sophomore Lorelei Holt, who moves over from soccer.

A Brown leaves, a Mia Burford transfers in from Kinnick; she’ll play first base for the Cobras, who bring back sophomores Moa Best and Sarah Goleman. Junior Michelle Breyette will do most of the pitching again.

The Red Devils, under new coach Taylor Kigerl-Hill, sport a big sophomore group and a couple of up-and-coming freshmen. Senior Zoe Dale will pitch, while senior Skyler Wordlaw will man center field.

Edgren continues to build while waiting for the snow to melt. Junior Alyssa Marrero is one of the team’s new pitchers and also plays shortstop, and junior Alyssa Singletary will play left field. Senior Gwen O’Connell moves over from track and will play third base.

Matthew C. Perry student-journalist Raven Rayos contributed to this report.

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• Spring sports team capsules