jr92

You got some bad info on that one. Under KHSAA rules the All-A Tournament games HAVE to go the full seven innings to be offical, unless the 10 run rule applies. You can't call the game after 5 or 6 innings because of darkness. Wolfe was trailing in the bottom of the 5th in this one, and it was obvious that there was no way to finish the game before darkness, so the umps stopped play. Anyway, why would Wolfe try to stall when they were BEHIND??? The game was resumed the next day and Wolfe put up a good rally, but got beat 12-11 with the tying run thrown at at home plate to end the game. Owsley County probably got a small assist from Wolfe as Hazard would up using 4 or 5 pitchers over the two days. They even had to bring back in their starter, something I'm sure they never planned on having to do. When Hazard got to Owsley later that evening, I'm sure their pitching stall was somewhat "used up".

The coaches DID try to talk to the umpires, more than once, but of course, it probably looked like they were trying to get the game called at that point only because they had just taken the lead. From that standpoint, they were in a no-win situation. We'll never know for sure, but I honestly believe that the game would have been called after 6 with a tie game if Wolfe hadn't scored to take the lead.

Simply put, there is no way the 7th inning should have ever been started, it was way too dark to be playing. Wolfe had just scored in the bottom of the sixth to take a 7-6 lead, and I guess the umpire-in-chief didn't want to start trouble by calling the game at that point, but it was already getting hard to see the ball. In addition, the game went on forever, it seemed. Each inning took a long time, because there were a lot of strikeouts and walks. There was no way to finish the inning, so it shouldn't have been started. I know what I'm talking about when I say it was too dark to be playing at that time; I've played softball on that old field for many years. The skies were overcast, the background is bad, most of the fielders are facing due east, which of course, is the first place that gets dark in the evening. The field was muddy, so you couldn't use new baseballs; they stayed white until they hit the ground one time. All this made for a very dangerous situation. Forget about winning or losing for a moment, the player's safety should come first and foremost! This was a serious injury waiting to happen. A fly ball was hit to Wolfe's centerfielder, and he never saw the ball, just held up his hands. A ball was hit on the ground to the left fielder and he never saw it coming. He just guessed where it was and of course, didn't come up with it. Of course, the Wolfe coaches were complaining about darkness, who wouldn't? Parents were complaining about their kids being in harms way and some wanted the coaches to take their kids out of the game. All this took place before the Wolfe coach's "stalling" took place.(Except for the rightfielder not going to his position incident, who by the way , had busted his hand and was sent to the hospital for x-rays. He had to be replaced, which took maybe a minute). The coaches went to the mound, with the base umpire rushing the meeting along, which took maybe a minute and a half. The pitcher was then changed, with the umps rushing this process along. The relief pitcher was not allowed to throw all of his warm-up pitches. He gave up a home run, which the base umpire said he never saw. At that point, the umps decided to call the game, which of course had to revert to the 6th inning. I don't know where the author of this thread came up with the notion that Wolfe was "excited about the win". Everyone of the players thought they had lost, and I saw a lot of heads hanging, even after they were told they had won. I highly respect Coach Davidson and his team. The Wolfe players and fans are always treated nicely whenever they play at Buckhorn. I also understand being upset about what happened; Wolfe has been on both sides of the coin and it is simply a bad situation. It's a shame that the new field is not quite ready, or this whole thing would have not happened. BTW Wolfe played at Elliott today, and the game was called in the sixth inning on account of darkness. It was not NEARLY as dark when the game was called at Sandy Hook as it was at the beginning of the seventh at Campton.

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