The Bryant Black Sox and Texarkana Razorbacks were set to play for the Mid-South Regional Championship on Sunday after the Razorbacks defeated American Legion Missouri champion Sedalia Travelers 5-0 at Gary Hogan Field in Little Rock.
The rains would come after the Razorbacks win and the game was to be made up at 1 p.m. Monday.
That didn’t happen.
Due to weather and field conditions, the game would not be made up and Texarkana was named the Mid-South Regional champion because the it held the tie-breaker in the season series, thus giving them a trip to Shelby, North Carolina, for a shot at the American Legion World Series title.
“They decided to declare [Texarkana] the champion without playing the game,” said an unhappy Black Sox Head Coach Darren Hurt. “They let us know when we were already heading up there. They’re telling me because of the weather they can’t get it in.”
“They told me [Sunday night] they would use any means necessary to play the game. Henderson State’s (Arkadelphia) field is available right now and they chose not to go play there after they told me they would go play there if it was available. They have absolutely not done everything they could have done.”
The Razorbacks gave the Black Sox (31-9) their only loss in the Mid-South Regional, a 6-5 come-from-behind victory, on Saturday, but Bryant was already in the championship game having defeated Kansas 3-2 in the opening round, Oklahoma 6-0 on Thursday and Missouri 6-3 on Friday to start 3-0 in the regional and clinch a championship berth. Texarkana lost its first game of the regional before sweeping through to championship round.
According to American Legion Baseball State Commissioner Jeral Howard, the forecast of rain and the lack of available fields was the reason the game was called and Texarkana was named champion.
“Because it was rained out and it was the decision of the national headquarters that we have to go to the tie,” Howard said. “They have a procedure that we do for games that are tied.”
Howard read the procedure:
“‘For the unseen reason we cannot crown a champion on the field of play, the American Legion will determine champion by the following: Head-to-head competition between the teams.’ The first one knocks it out. Texarkana had beaten Bryant and that’s where the head-to-head goes.
“We were looking at Arkadelphia, and we were looking at Conway, UCA and Hendrix, and they couldn’t play there, and UALR folks said they still had water standing on outfield and felt they shouldn’t be playing on it.
“It was raining all day (in Arkadelphia) and we’re not going to play in the rain and take a chance on getting players hurt. We had people we contact and they agreed not to play it unless we had a dry field and we didn’t have a dry field at all. It’s been raining there (Arkadelphia) all day to my understanding.”
According to Henderson State Reddies Head Baseball Coach Cody Hooten, HSU’s field (all turf) was playable the whole day. Hooten also said no one other than Hurt contacted him about playing on the Reddies’ field.
“Our field was playable all day,” Hooten said late Monday afternoon. “There’s a small issue with the mound needing re-turfed, but I told the only person (Hurt) that called me that it was playable, for sure.”
According to wunderground.com, 0.37 inches of rain fell in Arkadelphia and reportedly no rain fell after 10 a.m. Howard said there was a 1 p.m. deadline to make a decision on whether to play the game, but that the decision was made before the deadline.
“I know it was made before 1 o’clock, but I had nothing to do with that part of it,” Howard said. “It was up to them (national headquarters) and they felt it was the proper thing to do. I don’t know who was involved in that conversation and what was said.”
Hurt said he was told at 9:30 Monday morning that the game would be played even if the game had to be moved to another field. At 10:20 a.m. Hurt was notified the game would not be played due to the weather forecast.
“The weather girl told us it was going to rain all day and get heavier,” Howard said. “We reported that and the decision was made. We have people that we have to notify and that’s what happened.
“Did I want it to end that way? No. I’m from Arkansas and I had two teams to get to play and I wanted them to play, but I had no control to the rule. The rules are set and it’s been a rule the whole time.”
“Then it didn’t rain,” Hurt said “I’ve protested. At least I have people replying now.”