Weekend rain puts early end to baseball tourneys

Rain Saturday night and Sunday morning brought early ends to baseball tournaments at Legends Park and Demon Field over the weekend, and play was suspended at both venues.
    The tournaments were called, and the games will not be made up this summer.
    The Cowboy Challenge, which was being held at Legends Park, had teams competing in five different age groups. Twenty-five teams were in attendance, and the tournaments did get through pool play before the rain made the field unfit for play.
    In the 10-and-under bracket, the Larned Purple Panthers and Liberal had each finished pool play with records of 2-0 and were the top seeds heading into bracket play. The Dodge City Rangers were 0-2 in pool play, and the Spearville Titans were 1-1.
    In the 11-and-under pool, Liberal was the top seed after winning two games. The Dodge City Dodgers were 0-2.
    The Dodge City A's of the 12-and-under tourney were headed for a top seed after taking two games from the Scott City A's and the Lamar Weekend Warriors. The 12-and-under team from Liberal was also 2-0 before the weather rolled in.
    In 13-and-under play, the Central Kansas Sharks were 2-0 and a top seed, while the Wichita Cardinals were the only undefeated team in 14-and-under play.
    Southwest Sports representative Ed Kimminau said the games could not be made up because every weekend this summer was booked with other tournaments.
    The American Legion Baseball Dodge City Junior Rangers were also hosting a tournament over the weekend that was cut short due to the rainy weather. Pool play was interrupted by the rain.
    The Junior Rangers lost their first game Saturday 8-5 to the Rice County Rattlers in extra innings and lost to the Liberal Bulldogs, an 18-and-under team, later in the afternoon by a score of 8-2. Dodge was tied 0-0 with Garden City when the storms moved in, and the tourney was called.
    The Jr. Rangers (4-3) will be in action again Tuesday for two games against a traveling team from Pratt. The games are scheduled to start at 6 and 8 p.m. at Demon Field.