Storm washes out Tuesday’s state softball games

By John Burbridge  |  sports@charlescitypress.com

FORT DODGE — Even when it stopped, it didn’t completely stop.

Nearly four inches of rain spilled onto Fort Dodge and the surrounding area like the mother of all waterfalls. Several roads, especially those with just two lanes, were extremely treacherous as emergency broadcasts intermittently hit the airwaves with flash flood warnings which included friendly reminders that most drownings occur in cars.

Even when most of the danger subsided at around 11 a.m., rain continued to drip from a greenish sky for another 90 minutes.

As a result, there was no saving Tuesday’s first-round games of the Class 4A State Softball Tournament going on this week at the Harlan and Hazel Rogers Sports Complex.

First-round games from the Class 1A, 2A and 5A brackets started on Monday; Class 3A first-round games start Wednesday.

The Charles City Comets (24-10) were set to face top-seed Carlisle (36-6) at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday on the complex’s Mittera Field. Wednesday, the game — as well as all other Class 4A first-round matchups — has been reschedule for the same time at the same field.

Providing that the weather will be more cooperative for the rest of the week — insufferable heat indexes withstanding — the Class 4A winner’s bracket is set to stay on schedule.

The winner of the Charles City-Carlisle game will face the Boone (26-9) vs. Bishop Heelan (26-10) victory in one of the semifinals at 11 a.m. Thursday at the complex’s Buena Vista University Field. The winner advances to the championship final at 12:27 p.m. Friday at BVU Field; semifinal losers will play earlier on Friday (11:30 a.m., Mittera) for third-place honors.

The Class 4A consolation bracket, which was to be completed on Wednesday, has been moved back to Thursday with some of the times and field sites changed.

The Charles City-Carlisle loser will square off agains the Boone-Bishop Heelan loser in the one of the consolation semifinals at 10 a.m. at the complex’s Yankee Field. The consolation final (for fifth place) will be played at 4 p.m.; and seventh-place game will be played at 2 p.m., both at Yankee Field.

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