Rain no problem for Saturday's schedule

The annual tourney is scheduled to end today.

In its 21st year, the Kelso Klassic men's fast-pitch softball tournament has been rained on so many times tournament director Larry Eftink said farmers can pretty much count on rain come tournament time.

That was the case when the tournament was originally scheduled in June, which subsequently washed away the tournament after one round.

The Klassic started over this weekend, and on Saturday there was not a drip in sight.

Of course, the players may have been asking for a little rain as they played up to four games in the sweltering heat.

"Now we couldn't get enough water into us this time around," Jamco Transportation team member John Weber said.

The heat kept nearly all but the softball diehards and family members away from the morning and early afternoon games. Those that were there saw a couple of good games early on, with Kelso Fastpitch outlasting T-Town KC's 3-2 in eight innings in one winners bracket game, while Nokomis Bud Light defeated SI Budweiser 1-0 in 10 innings in another winners bracket game.

"This is a totally different atmosphere on Friday and Saturday nights," assistant tournament director Rick Heuring said, referring to the larger crowds expected for the night games. "I didn't expect many people coming here this afternoon with the heat."

Heuring said the crowd for Friday night's old-timer's game which pitted Kelso vs. New Hamburg stood several deep around the main field.

"It was a beautiful crowd last night," he said.

The heat not only had an affect on the size of the crowd, but also on the size of the scores. As the day wore on the scores continued to rise, with two games in the losers bracket ending with both teams in double digits.

The Wolfpack defeated T-Town 12-10 in one losers bracket game, while Kelso Fastpitch lost a marathon game 17-12 to the Memphis Dawgs in another losers bracket game.

"What you're getting is a lot of your No. 1 pitchers can't throw as much as they might usually throw for you, so you get higher scoring games," Weber said. "And your fielders are committing errors, because your concentration isn't what is usually is."

Radom Lee's Sports seemed to have its concentration, winning big in two games to move on to the winners bracket final today at 10:45 a.m. Nokomis will face Radom after defeating Kelso Fastpitch 4-2 in the other winners bracket semifinal.

"They've got a good team," Heuring said of Radom Lee's Sports, which has never won a Kelso Klassic. "I wouldn't be surprised if they win it. This will be their highest finish."

The championship round begins at 2:15 p.m.