The faces on the players from the Guilderland Babe Ruth baseball team were aghast.
As their manager, Brian Grabek, started to explain what they were going to do today, some of them probably wanted to say, “We have to get up that early?”
Yes, they will. So will the Clifton Park Bulldogs.
Thursday’s semifinal games in the Babe Ruth 13-Year-Old World Series at Clifton Common were postponed by rain, and have been rescheduled for today. Clifton Park and Guilderland will play at 10 a.m. The second semifinal, between Glen Allen, Va., and Tri-Valley, Calif., will start at noon.
The championship game will be played at 7 tonight.
Grabek wants his players to be at the field at 8:30 a.m. That meant they would have to get to bed earlier than they probably planned.
“It’s another day of sleepless nights,” Grabek said. “We’re excited to play. It gives our pitchers another day’s rest. We’ve got to get them up early and get them ready. I think everyone was keyed up for [Thursday]. So, [today], we’ll get them up early, get them running, get them loose and get them ready for this game.”
The rain had let up Thursday, but the tarp didn’t cover the entire infield. There were puddles behind second base.
“Mother Nature, apparently, is not a baseball fan,” tournament spokesman Stan Hudy said. “The Babe Ruth headquarters tournament director decided, and all four managers agreed, that we’d rather play two [today] potentially than go so late [Thursday]. Everyone agrees it’s the right thing to do.”
Categories: -Sports-
