Rain, rain, go away
July isn't exactly known as a rain month around here.
But the wet weather has visited the area all week and has wreaked havoc upon the Butler County legion baseball tournament.
The tourney — which is supposed to be on its third day of games this weekend — has squeezed in one game so far. East Butler defeated Karns City, 10-6, Tuesday night at Speed-O Field.
Everyone else has been playing the waiting game.
“Cranberry didn't even have the option of postponing its game with us,” Center Township manager Bob Kline said. “The local township shut down the park, there was so much water.”
Cranberry manager Larry Stelitano said the Quad County Colt 16-under tournament — scheduled all weekend on Cranberry fields — has been moved to Seneca Valley's all-turf high school field.
“I suppose we could have played there, too, eventually,” Stelitano said. “But the Quad County has a block of games they have to get in right away.... and we have our own two fields to use.”
Graham Park was supposed to host the Center Township-Cranberrry game last Tuesday. That game is now being played at 6:15 p.m. Saturday at North Boundary Park.
West Sunbury is hosting Meridian at 6 p.m. Saturday. That winner plays East Butler on Sunday while the loser gets Karns City that day.
All seven BCAL teams are scheduled to be in action over the weekend.
“We're trying to get back on that Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday schedule that our kids are accustomed to playing,” Meridian manager Tyler Friel said. “A lot of these kids play for other teams and, or, have jobs.
“We could have played at West Sunbury Wednesday, but we didn't have enough players. We were good to go Thursday, but the rains came again.”
Top-seeded Saxonburg was supposed to play its first game Thursday after receiving a first-round bye. Instead, the team doesn't know what opponent it will be playing yet.
“Basically, the new plan is get two rounds of games in Saturday and Sunday, then see where we're at,” Friel said.
West Sunbury is the No. 2 seed, but may run short of players if it goes on a deep run in the double-elimination tournament and the tourney lasts through the end of next week.
“I've got a bunch of players scheduled to go on vacation at the end of next week,” West Sunbury manager Brian Williams said. “We could be down four or five starters if we're still playing then.
“Kids already changed their vacation once this summer to be around for this tournament. It is what it is. You can't control the weather.”
Adding to the frustration is man hours spent prepping the fields for play.
“We probably spent 15 to 20 hours working on the field and never did play,” Stelitano said of Graham Park. “The grass is saturated. We just couldn't play on it.
“We've had rains delay league games for a week before. For it to happen at this time of the summer, though, is pretty rare.”
