And not just because of the seemingly constant rain falling day after day after day after day in the Indianapolis area for the past week.
The Oilers are inching along like worms in their quest for a second undefeated campaign and Class 1A state title, but it will have to wait one more day ... they hope.
After the semifinals finished in the afternoon at Hamilton Southeastern -- Whiting defeated Frontier 2-0 in the completion of Friday's suspended game -- the rains came and didn't stop until early evening.
Once the field was prepared, Whiting and fellow semifinal winner Tecumseh got under way at around 7:15 p.m. CDT and were moving along quickly.
Whiting took a 2-0 lead in the top of the fifth (sounds just like Friday, doesn't it?) and while they were still batting, multiple flashes of lightning filled the southwestern sky.
Less than an hour later, it was time for both teams that couldn't be further apart -- Tecumseh is located near Evansville -- to find a place to stay overnight again.
The Class 1A championship will resume at 1 p.m. CDT today.
"We have no choice," Whiting coach Paul Laub said with the ultimate look of reservation on his face. "We do what we have to do."
In the top of the fifth inning the Oilers did what they had to do to take the lead. And they got a little help from Tecumseh.
Sam Plavec led off with a double, though it looked like a ball that should have been caught by Tecumseh center fielder Teri Newmaster. Sarah Watkins attempted to sacrifice Plavec to third, but the catcher threw the ball into left field.
That made it second and third with nobody out and Plavec scored when Adi Cruz's flyball to right field was dropped. Watkins scored soon after on a wild pitch.
Mel Dumezich had struck out nine through four innings while giving up only one hit -- a little pop down the third base line by the Braves' Audra Sanders that Plavec couldn't quite catch. But Sanders was out on the next pitch when she left early from first base.
n After another long day of rain delays that became the norm in three days of softball state finals activities in the Indianapolis area, one of the biggest cheers from the crowd at Hamilton Southeastern was directed toward the unsung heroes on Monday.
"Let's give a round of applause for the Hamilton Southeastern grounds crews today," the public address announcer said just before the teams were introduced in the Class 1A final between Whiting and Tecumseh.
Class 1A was the only site to get both of its semifinals finished before another barrage of rain and lightning arrived. It took about two hours, but about a dozen volunteers pushed and pumped the water from the outfield and raked and applied diamond dry to the infield in time for the game to start around 7:15 CDT.
n Whiting fans were quite torn while its softball team was in warmups before the final.
Yes, they were cheering in support of their female Oilers, but many were on cell phones keeping track of the boys baseball team at semistate in Kokomo.
Whiting graduate and Griffith High School baseball coach Brian Jennings was one of the interested parties.
"They're down 5-3 in the fifth," he said at one point when asked about the baseball team.
Five minutes later a buzz circulates through the crowd.
"It's 5-5 in the sixth," Jennings informed his fellow Oilers.
About 15 minutes later, the baseball team won 6-5 in the seventh and softball was secondary, but only for a moment.
n One Oiler who was watching from above, former principal Dirk Flick, was still in the hearts of the players.
Flick died from cancer last week, so every player had his initials "DF" on their helmets all weekend and into Monday.
It was helping with their play on the field, though Flick couldn't quite control the weather enough from above.
Contact Steve Gorches at 648-3141, sgorches@post-trib.com or visit his blog at blogs.post-trib.com/gorches.
