Tennis trying again today, baseball Saturday

Fort Scott High athletic director Larry Fink really, really wanted to get Thursday's baseball and softball games in.

But Mother Nature, the ultimate AD, was equally determined not to let that happen. And not only did those events get called off once again, but also the Class 4A Regional Tennis Tournament at Independence was postponed.

Tennis was trying again this morning and with only a slight chance of showers in the forecast, it's likely they'll get through the day.

Baseball was hoping it could play since Lions Field has a tarp to cover the infield. But even that wasn't enough and Fort Scott's doubleheader with Columbus was called off.

Softball was going to move to Ellis Park and play Columbus there. But that plan was thwarted when it wouldn't stop raining long enough to dry out that field.

Including today, there are only eight days left in the year on which baseball and softball games can be held. Regional seeding, however, takes place Wednesday, so in truth only games played up to and including Tuesday count toward seeding.

Getting a minimum number of games played matters. The KSHSAA mandates teams entering Regionals must have played 10 games. If a team can't play 10 games, it's winning percentage is halved. Thus an 8-8 team (.500) will be seeded as if it's 5-15 (.250).

Fort Scott baseball and softball are both already scheduled to play Monday and Thursday of next week and have added Wednesday make-ups with Columbus.

The baseball team will play a varsity/junior varsity doubleheader Saturday at Carl Junction, Mo. Saturday. That essentially replaces the second date with Nevada, which was cancelled last Friday so both schools could make up league doubleheaders.

It was also announced this morning that the Tigers will host Columbus on Wednesday evening at Lions Park. There will be only one game, which starts at 6 p.m.

If the Tigers can get every game scheduled between now and Thursday in, they'll enter the Anderson County Class 4A Regional Tournament with 13 games played. Kansas rules allow teams to schedule 20 in the regular season.

The Tigers have lost doubleheaders with Girard, Independence, Parsons and one game with Columbus. The Girard and Indy twinbills were rescheduled once with the make-up date getting rained out as well. The Parsons doubleheader actually got started but was suspended after 3 1/2 innings of the first game.

Due to rainouts, the Tigers have played at home only twice this season -- once officially as the Parsons doubleheader can't go into the books until (or if) it's concluded.

Tiger softball has only played eight games but does have a make-up doubleheader with Parsons scheduled for this afternoon. Their first three dates were postponed before the Tigers started the season 10 days after it was supposed to begin.

The softball team will also play Wednesday but it will be a regular doubleheader with Columbus starting at 4:30 p.m. at Don Hewett Field.

The softball team has lost twinbills against Paola and Independence. If they can get their six remaining games in, they'll go to Regionals with 16 games played.