Inclement weather antics entertain Knights as doubleheader gets called off

Harrison Epstein photo
With hail and rain coming down, outfielder Cade Griffitts and designated hitter Alex St. Gelais entertain both their teammates and the Wheatland dugout.

By: 
Harrison Epstein harrison@glenrockind.com

When the Glenrock Knights and Wheatland Lobos met in Glenrock for their rematch, both teams were prepared to play. However, the two teams only got through seven outs before a lightning flash forced the umpire to send both teams to their respective dugouts.
The two teams spent the next 30 minutes playing games, joking and waiting out the storm. What began as a single flash of lightning soon became much more. After only minutes waiting, it moved to a light rain, then wind before hail started to fall near-parallel to the ground.
“I was optimistic that we could get out of there basically unscathed and maybe finish the game, but about the time the hail started I knew that mother nature was serious,” coach Allen Jennings said.
A suggestion from assistant coach Dalton Cheever led to the two dugouts playing a game of tic-tac-toe across the diamond.
Alex St. Gelais dug out a sharpie and one of the practice baseballs and made the first move. For St. Gelais, the focus was on maintaining positivity within the dugout.
“I tried to keep the spirits up just in case there was a game,” he said. “You’ve got to keep it going, you can’t let the team sit too long and get cold.”
After several minutes throwing the ball back-and-forth between the Knights and Lobos, five Glenrock players huddled around the ball to make their final move.
The circle of St. Gelais, Cade Griffitts, Larry Siegel, Eric Suppes and Jake Redman collaborated for the winning move. Griffitts volunteered to step into the storm to lob their winning move into the Wheatland dugout.
“We took the ‘dub’ in that and if the rain didn’t stop us we would’ve taken the ‘dub’ here,” St. Gelais said.
On the other side of the dugout, rain trickled down, leaving the dugout with about three inches of water before getting to the drain. As the weather delay dragged on, lethargy began setting in for the Knights.
The team sat in relative silence, the hail clanging against the metal fences dominated the air, before Griffitts and St. Gelais set up a simulation of another summer sport — hunting.
With his one glove on one side of his head, and Suppes’ on the other, St. Gelais bolted onto the field, Glenrock’s lone moose. Griffitts picked up the nearest bat, his temporary hunting rifle, and dropped the moose between the dugout and the third-base line. Griffitts sprinted to his prize and celebrated it to the sound of hoots and hollers from his teammates.
“It was definitely Alex’s idea, but I just really wanted to shoot the moose,” Griffitts said.
There was still rain and hail coming down when the first rays of sunshine came down on the field. Soon after, the skies were clear and a rainbow became visible over the center field fence. The PA announcer for the field got right to work with an apt song choice.
“Here Comes the Sun,” from The Beatles filled the air while Jennings, the umpires and the Wheatland coaches went over their options. Redman, the day’s pitcher, and outfielder Gavin Swanson picked up rakes and went to work on the infield.
They did everything they could to disperse the newly-made pools into the grass and around the rest of the infield.
“Once we got out there and looked at it, I knew we were fighting an uphill battle,” Jennings said.
Because there are only two weeks left of the American Legion season, the teams were unable to schedule a makeup game and what was played will not officially count.

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