Nothing shouts “Spring is on the way!” better than the onset of spring sports season.

That gets under way on Tuesday afternoon when the Richmond Senior baseball team hosts Anson.

But before we dive headlong into what’s sure to be a busy, exciting spring for sports in Richmond County, a quick glance back at the just-concluded winter season is in order.

It was a good season on the hardwood for both the Richmond men’s and women’s basketball teams.

Both squads adjusted to new coaches: the Raider men with David Laton, who moved over from the women’s program; and the women with Nellie Harrington, who took over the team on an interim basis for the season after Laton moved over to take over the men’s team.

You always expect a feeling-out process with a new coach. But perhaps since both coaches were already in the Richmond school system, and knew some of the kids, that process did not take as long here.

Both programs made it to the playoffs, and the Raider women won a first-round game for the first time in awhile.

Both teams have excellent talent coming up from both the J.V. squads and their younger counterparts at the Richmond Ninth Grade Academy.

The J.V. women were undefeated, while the J.V. men lost just two games.

The men’s J.V. squad also had to endure the heartache of losing a teammate, with the tragic passing of Jammal Kegler earlier this month.

That experience united the team, and a number of those players should move up to the varsity next season.

So the Raiders’ hoop future looks to be bright. The 2010-11 season should be an exciting one at Raider Gymnasium.

With the season in the books, Richmond school officials can give the women’s team a sense of continuity by naming a new permanent coach.

That coach should be Harrington. She did an excellent job with the Lady Raiders in 2009-10.

She knows the program from the ground up, with previous stints as coach at Rohanen Middle School as well as the Lady Raider J.V. She knows the girlls, and they know her.

The Lady Raiders sputtered a bit at the end of the season, but a big part of that was due to illness and injury.

A good foundation for the future has been laid here, and I hope Harrington gets the opportunity to build on that base.

And the Raider wrestling team had a good season as well, with several wrestlers falling just short of a trip to the individual state tournament.

With a number of young grapplers in the program, Richmond’s mat future looks bright as well.

Coming from the Midwest, I’m not used to seeing baseball practice going on in February. Back where I came from, we were usually lucky if any baseball/softball games got in before the second week of April.

But don’t worry — It won’t take me long at all to adjust to this change. I’m already liking this Southern weather.

See you at the field!

Contact sports editor David Vantress at 997-3111, ext. 14 or via email at dvantress@yourdailyjournal.com.