Published: May 11, 2008 11:00 pm         

Eagles, Grizzlies try to play today

Woodrow Wilson and Nicholas County are scheduled to wrap up the Class AAA Region 3, Section 1 tournament tonight in Summersville.

Good luck with that.

With torrential rains and tree-splitting winds on Sunday, even more rain on the radar overnight and predictions of cold, wet conditions for today, that 6 p.m. start appeared doubtful at best late Sunday.

Nicholas coach Gene Morris surveyed his field at 5 p.m. Sunday and found it “a muddy mess,” adding that there was standing water in the outfield.

If the game cannot be played today, then the teams will try to play again Tuesday at 2 p.m. But, even with perfect weather, that time also seems in jeopardy because teams are expected to be done by early evening because of this week’s statewide WESTEST.

After Tuesday, the earliest the game can be played is Friday, when a break in the weather is in the forecast.

By then, both teams will have been able to digest Woodrow’s mammoth comeback in Wednesday’s 15-14 win in the second game of the tournament. The Flying Eagles trailed 14-6 in the bottom of the seventh, but rallied for nine runs to force today’s — or this week’s — for-all-the-marbles third game.

Neither coach thinks the comeback will have any bearing on the clincher.

“I wouldn’t think so,” Woodrow coach Mark Daniel said. “This time of year you have to be ready, no matter where or when it’s played.”

“I think we’re fine,” Morris said of his team’s psyche. “I been in this thing a long time, and we’ve blown six- or seven-run leads and we’ve come back from six or seven down. Those things happen.

“They got on a roll. We made a couple of errors, they got some hits. When you have been it long enough, those things are going to happen to you.”

Despite their 9-18 record, Thursday’s unthinkable rally wasn’t the first for the Eagles.

“We have done it several times this year, believe it or not,” Daniel said. “We have had a lot of comebacks from five or six runs in several innings this year. This was just a little more dramatic because (a loss) would end your season.”

The Grizzlies (16-8) have played well since starting the season 1-4. The one-two pitching tandem of Cody Smith and Bryan Hughes, in addition to quality appearances from Tim Legg and Cody Boggs, has Nicholas one win from a sectional title.

“We are pretty much a junior-dominated team,” Morris said. “We got some consistency when the weather straightened itself out the middle part of the season and we were able to string some wins together.”

He’s hoping the weather will straighten up once again.

— E-mail: gfauber@

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