It appeared Pine Grove and DeAngelo's were headed for a wild Schuylkill County Teener League Senior Division playoff elimination game Tuesday at Steidle Field.
The wild weather that moved through Pottsville just before 8 p.m. put an end to it.
No. 3 DeAngelo's was leading No. 5 Pine Grove 3-2 in a losers' bracket game in the bottom of the third when the players were pulled off the field at 7:50 p.m. by the approaching storm. At 7:55 p.m., the game was suspended and will resume today at 5:30 p.m.
No. 4 Frackville (17-4) recorded a 2-1 victory over No. 6 Shenandoah (11-10) in Wednesday's other elimination game. Thanks to Tuesday's suspension, the remaining games will pushed back a day.
The winners' bracket final between No. 2 Schuylkill Haven (19-1) and No. 1 Branch Maroon (19-1) will now be Thursday in Llewellyn, while Frackville will face the winner of today's completed Pine Grove-DeAngelo's game Thursday. Both games will begin at 5:30 p.m.
The losers' bracket final will now be Friday, with the championship round beginning Saturday. If necessary, the deciding game is Sunday.
Both of Tuesday's starting
pitchers, Pine Grove's Dylan Smith and DeAngelo's Brian Heckler, struggled with their control in the first inning. The two combined for 81 pitches, nine walks and one hit batter.
Heckler needed 28 pitches to get out of the top of first as Pine Grove scored twice.
Dylan Brown reached base when Heckler hit him on the helmet. Smith followed with a sacrifice bunt attempt up the third-base line that turned into a hit. With nobody covering third, Brown ended up there.
With one out, E.J. Herb walked to load the bases, while Tanner Levan followed with a successful suicide squeeze that brought home Brown. Back-to-back walks to Jordan Bettinger and Jaryd Sorrentino forced in Smith to make it 2-0.
DeAngelo's scored three times in the bottom of the inning as Smith threw 53 pitches.
With one out, Aiden Liptok walked, while Donte Yeastadt followed with a single to the right-center gap that knocked in Liptok.
After J.J. Spehrley and Chris Wollyung walked to load the bases, a sacrifice fly to center by Sayre Breisch brought home Jason Blum, who was running for Yeastadt.
Then, with Alex Everly at the plate, Pine Grove tied to pick off Spehrley at second as Brown threw to the second baseman. But the throw to third rolled out of play and Spehrley came in to score.
Brown retired DeAngelo's in order in the bottom of the second.
Pine Grove loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the second, but Heckler got a strikeout to end the inning. Levan reached on an infield single to lead off the third and went to second on a throwing error. But Heckler struck out the side to end that frame.
That's where the game will resume this evening.
Frackville 2 Shenandoah 1
FRACKVILLE - Alex Norris and Tevin Murray combined on a one-hitter as Frackville eliminated Shenandoah from the playoffs at Memorial Park.
Norris went the first 4.1 innings, while Murray pitched the final 2.2.
Frackville scored a run in the bottom of the first on an error. In the bottom of the third, Murray singled. He then stole second and, on the same play, went to third on a bad throw and came home on another errant throw.
Nick Gurski knocked in Shenandoah's only run with a sacrifice fly in the fifth.
Ian McCole went the distance for Shenandoah and took the loss.