Lightning suspends Comets’ away baseball game against Tigers

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

CEDAR FALLS — At the Robinson Dresser Sports Complex, there’s a tornado shelter that — according to a sign posted on one of its thick walls — can withstand bursts of winds reaching 250 miles per hour.

With bubble wrap-like mammatus clouds looming not so high above on Wednesday evening, it looked as if the shelter might be put to some use.

But it sure couldn’t shelter a baseball game from lightning, thus Charles City’s non-conference contest against hosting Cedar Falls was suspended after four full innings with the Tigers leading, 6-4.

After much of northern part of Iowa was shelled by major thunderstorms throughout the day, Cedar Falls was for the most part spared by evening as the Comets-Tigers game was one of the few contests that wasn’t cancelled or postponed.

After a nearby lightning bolt stopped play before the start of the fifth, the teams and their fans rode out a hard wind-blown rainfall while seeking shelter in dugouts, a roof-topped picnic area, a storage shed and the aforementioned tornado shelter.

After nearly an hour, played resumed.

But after just two pitches, another bolt flashed from another approaching front, which sent everyone home.

The Comets jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top half of the first, but then Connor Schultz put the Tigers up 4-2 with a grand-slam homer in the latter half of the inning.

The Comets managed to pull within 1 in the second when Cole Reams “drove” in a run with a pool shot-like dribbler down the first-base line that had enough “English” to roll into fair territory while attracting the Tiger catcher away from the plate.

Comet sophomore Carter Johanningmeier pitched an inning and a third of shutout baseball in relief, thanks in part to left fielder Theo Arndt’s all-out diving catch of Ethan Hayes’s deep drive while robbing him of extra bases.