NORTH KITSAP — Tuesday afternoon, Josh McLeod stepped onto a wooden pitching mound behind Kingston Middle School.

Amidst recycling bins and garbage cans, the Kingston High School junior threw his first warm-up pitch of the day to a catcher who squatted behind a makeshift home plate.

This was not the first time the pitchers on the KHS baseball team practiced behind the middle school this season. But wet weather has lift the team with few options.

“It would be nice to get the feel for a regular field instead of a gym floor,” McLeod said.

With the heavy rainfall this month, KHS baseball field has become drenched with water, making it unusable most of the time.

However, McLeod and his fellow pitchers are not the only athletes practicing in less-than-preferable conditions. Fastpitch, tennis and golf teams at KHS and North Kitsap High have been forced to take shelter during practice hours, as coaches find ways to cope with the weather.

As of Thursday, the National Weather Service reported more than 10 inches of precipitation in March in Bremerton. In 2010, the total precipitation for March was 5.33 inches in similar areas. And February saw below-normal precipitation, with 3.94 inches, compared to the average of 7.06.

“Overall, we’ve had a very wet March,” said Dennis D’Amico of the National Weather Service. “It’s been unusually wet.”

March is typically a wet month in Western Washington, D’Amico said. However, this amount is not common.

“Lots of places have already received more precipitation in the last two weeks than we normally do in the entire month,” he said.

Though rain has not accumulated enough in a single day to surpass the March precipitation record — 3.35 inches on March 10, 1903 — it has neared 2 inches a few days this month.

Because of the soaking conditions, teams at both high schools have sought alternatives to playing outside.

Tennis and fastpitch teams are sharing the gymnasiums, with batting practice on one side and pickle ball in lieu of tennis on the other.

“It definitely makes it a lot harder to practice,” NK senior tennis player Taylor Skansi said of practicing in the gym. “I feel like I personally can’t get all of my stroke … Weather-wise, this is the worst.”

With the fastpitch and tennis teams in the same gym, both teams make sacrifices, but practicing is sometimes necessary.

On Wednesday, the NK fastpitch team stayed inside while Andy Fredrickson, father of a player, helped resurface the team’s field. Head coach Jamie Heinz said inside play has allowed the team to focus on its batting, an aspect of the  team she feels will be strong this year.

For the golf teams, playing on a wet surface is not uncommon and the White Horse Golf Club in Kingston is a fairly dry place to play, NK head golf coach Tom Harney said. With the constant storms moving over the area, Harney said even the typically dry White Horse has been unplayable.

“When the golf course is saturated, it’s just no fun to be out there,” he said.

With a break in the wet weather on Wednesday, both golf teams and the NK baseball team took practice outside. Head coach Jeff Weible used the opportunity to have NK Vice Principal John Waller lawnroll the infield in hopes the team could practice the following day. Rolling a field presses the ground down, eliminating some of the moisture in the ground.

“The field looks OK from here,” Weible said from the dugout. “But it’s really 3 inches of muck.”

Despite the best efforts, Weible said the athletes are becoming “lethargic” with all the time spent indoors.

The NK field was constructed in the 1970s and because of all the digging, the surface is a few feet above the hard pan. Because of this, the ground can absorb less water, keeping it above ground.

Because of the potential for injury, Weible said he has had to bring the team back indoors after players began slipping on the field.

“It’s not worth any potential injuries,” Weible said. “You just have to weigh the conditions.”