Weather costs Capahas chance to clinch

~ Plaza Tire needs a win today to reach the NBC World Series.

The Plaza Tire Capahas were forced to wait another day to try to capture their fifth consecutive National Baseball Congress Mid-South Regional title.

Plaza Tire and the Pine Bluff (Ark.) Braves were tied 1-1 after three innings in Saturday night's championship round when the weather turned nasty.

After a delay because of lightning that already had lasted just over an hour, any hopes the teams had of resuming play were dashed when a lightning strike knocked out several banks of lights at Capaha Field.

"There was no way we could have played again tonight because the lights wouldn't come back on," said Plaza Tire manager Jess Bolen as heavy rain began to fall. "That was a big bolt of lightning. It was scary."

The squads will resume the contest today at 1 p.m.

Plaza Tire (14-8), which is 2-0 in the three-team, double-elimination tournament, needs just one victory to win the title and earn its 28th consecutive bid to next month's NBC World Series in Wichita, Kan.

Pine Bluff (19-6), 1-1 in the tournament after losing to the Capahas 4-0 in Friday's opener, would have to beat the Capahas twice today to claim its first Mid-South Regional crown.

The Braves have finished second behind the Capahas in the last three regionals, with most of their meetings being blowouts.

"They're a much improved ballclub from what they've been," Bolen said. "They gave us a battle in Friday's game and it was a battle tonight before we had to stop play."

Both clubs won earlier Saturday -- the Capahas beating the Charleston Riverdogs 10-3 in the winners bracket final and the Braves downing the Riverdogs 11-2 in the losers bracket final.

The Braves grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning against the Capahas as Corey McCoy led off with a triple and scored on a ground out by Rashaad Billingsley.

Plaza Tire tied it in the third inning as Denver Stuckey led off with a double, moved to third on a one-out ground ball by Matt Wagner and scored on a two-out wild pitch.

Capahas starter Jason Chavez allowed two hits through three innings, while Braves starter James Mitchell gave up three hits.

Bolen didn't know if Chavez would be back on the mound when the game resumes today.

"It all depends on how he feels," Bolen said. "I'll pretty much leave it up to him."