Softball: Kaneland, Sycamore play half an inning before rain, lightning delay game until Thursday

BELVIDERE – Even by noon Wednesday most forecasts had a minor chance of rain in DeKalb County and even less in Belvidere, where Kaneland and Sycamore were scheduled to play in a Class 3A Belvidere North semifinal.

But in a matter of hours, the rain and lightning became much more widespread than predicted, and the Knights and Spartans could play just half an inning. The game will be continued from the bottom of the first at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at Belvidere North High School.

“Hopefully we get a little better weather and we roll with it. It’s all you can do.”

—  Madison Mikos, Kaneland coach

“[The delay clock] restarts every time there’s a lightning strike, back up to 30 minutes,” Sycamore coach Jill Carpenter said at about 5:20 p.m. “About every five minutes it seems to reset. There’s a lot on the radar. It’s postseason, it’s early. We have an extra day we can play. You don’t want to see people playing in sloppy conditions and that becoming a factor. So, it’s probably the right decision.”

The game started with the wind howling straight in and an ever-increasing rain with the Knights (17-16) batting against Sycamore starter Alyssa Wilkerson. Gabby Gonzalez drew a one-out walk, but was erased when Brynn Woods lined a shot to Brighton Snodgrass in right field, who doubled Woods off first.

Before Kaneland could finish warming up for the bottom of the first, the umpires spotted lightning and the game was delayed. By 5:15 p.m. with the thunder still rumbling, the game was postponed until Thursday, with Sycamore (27-10) batting in the bottom of the first.

“Hopefully we get a little better weather and we roll with it,” Kaneland coach Madison Mikos said. “It’s all you can do.”

Sycamore went through a similar situation last season before their Class 3A Freeport Regional semifinal against Belvidere. The Spartans’ bus was approaching Freeport when they caught word the game would be postponed, with the Spartans eventually losing 8-2 to the Bucs.

“I’ll be honest, I’m grateful we got through the top of one without weather being a factor,” Carpenter said. “It started to rain, and I’m like, ‘super.’ But we were able to get through it until they saw lightning. We had to do this same thing last year when we were 10 minutes from Freeport and they told us to turn around. Then we came back the next day.”

While waiting in the school for about half an hour, Carpenter joked the biggest negative of the delay is having to replenish the team’s supply of snacks.

“The kids got to destroy everything out of the snackbox, so it’s gonna be another $70 to come out here the next day,” Carpenter said. “But you know, it is what it is, and it’s worth it. We’ll just deal with it.”