Rain, lightning conspire to cancel events

Fort Scott High School head baseball coach Jeff DeLaTorre (16) checks for weather information while Parsons head coach Mike Krull and the umpires for Tuesday's doubleheader at Ty Cullor Field discuss what to do as thunderstorms approach. A few minutes later, the lightning began to present too much of a threat to continue playing and the first game was suspended in the top of the fourth inning. (Captured Images/Kenny Felt)

The first game of Fort Scott High School's baseball doubleheader with Parsons was moving along nicely Tuesday afternoon at Ty Cullor Field.

Down the hill at the Betty Ruth Willard Complex, Fort Scott Community College's softball team was playing the fifth inning of the second game of a doubleheader with Coffeyville.

Farther to the north at Lions Field, FSCC's baseball team was looking to get in a game with Crowder, Mo. hoping to draw a good crowd with a rare 5 p.m. start.

Then the lightning came and yet another day of competition was halted.

Rain and thunderstorm not only affected the aforementioned activities but also a junior varsity track meet at Frary Field and the attempt to make up the Labette County Tennis Invitational at Parsons, in which FSHS was participating.

Because it started at 2 p.m., the Greyhound softball team was able to play two official Jayhawk Conference-Eastern Division games although they lost both to Coffeyville, 7-3 in the first game and 8-0 in five innings in the second.

The Tigers got started at Ty Cullor on time, looking to get in just their sixth and seventh games of the season, which began March 26 at Nevada. Parsons was batting with two out in the top of the fourth inning when it was deemed that the lightning was too close to continue playing. Moments later, the rain came anyway and head coach Jeff DeLaTorre was able to show the umpires and Parsons' coaches that it wasn't going to stop any time soon with an Internet radar function he has on his cell phone.

Fort Scott was leading Parsons 1-0 when play was suspended. The lone run came across in the bottom of the third. Cole Pruitt was hit by a pitch leading off the inning. John Leek doubled and pitcher Drew Lawson aided his own cause by driving in Pruitt on a groundout to second.

Fort Scott pitcher Drew Lawson delivers a pitch to a Parsons hitter in the third inning of the first game of what was to be a doubleheader at Ty Cullor Field Tuesday evening. Lawson struck out five Viking batters in 3 2/3 innings before play was suspended due to lightning. The Tigers held a 1-0 lead at the time. (Captured Images/Kenny Felt)

Lawson was also providing a strong pitching performance. He struck out five batters and had faced only the minimum number of batters when the game was stopped. He walked the lead-off batter of the top of the third but he was later caught stealing.

It's presumed that if the games can be made up, the first game will resume from the point it was stopped and the second game will immediately follow.

Greyhound baseball never really got started since it was going to play one single nine-inning game at its late start. Just as the Tigers were stopping at the top of the hill, Greyhound players were pulling the tarp over Lions Field's infield.

There were no activities scheduled for today at either FSCC or FSHS and it would seem like an ideal day to make up the postponed events. But even if such arrangements could be made on short notice, the isolated thunderstorms expected this evening would prevent them from taking place.

The next scheduled event for each affected sport:

* -- FSCC baseball hosts Kansas City Kansas Thursday at 1 p.m. at Lions Field.

* -- FSCC softball will take part in the Jayhawk Challenge at Wichita this weekend before playing a make-up confer-ence/sub-region doubleheader with Highland Monday at 2. This will be the Greyhounds' regular-season finale.

* -- FSHS baseball is scheduled to host Coffeyville in a Southeast Kansas League doubleheader at Ty Cullor Field Thursday at 4:30. The Tigers will also entertain Nevada in a single game at Lions Field Friday at 4:30. That will be followed by a junior varsity game between the two schools.

* -- FSHS tennis will go to Independence Thursday morning for the Southeast Kansas League Tournament.

* -- Fort Scott High's junior varsity track team isn't scheduled to go to another meet this season. It wasn't known at press time if there would be a chance to complete Tuesday's suspended meet or try to find another JV meet to take part in.

According to the National Weather Service, rain and thunderstorms are in the forecast for Thursday morning and into the late afternoon. There is also a chance of rain and thunderstorms on Friday.