Radar image of the localized storm.  (WRGB.com)

During the afternoon hours, a storm formed over Great Barrington and streamed its way right into Pittsfield. This storm brought torrential rains to the Pittsfield area, and as a result, people on the team assumed the game would be canceled.

Ironically, this storm was localized to Pittsfield and Lenox, and not one drop fell in Dalton. In fact, on the town line between Pittsfield and Dalton on Route 8, the Pittsfield side was wet while the Dalton side was dry. Despite numerous calls in regards to game cancellation, the game was still held and team manager A-WOL struggled to reach team members to show-up and avoid a forfeit. Matters were worsened by the fact that Rick Palma incorrectly told various team members that the game was held at 8pm, instead of 6:30.

Zep, Jason, Tony and Lisa pose after scoring on Zep's grand slam.  (Wolan)

Game time was postponed by about 20 minutes to allow A’s team members to trickle in. In the end, the team was short by two players and was forced to borrow two players from the opposing team: Zep and Cory.

The A’s defense was good, but rusty. The infield, lead by A-WOL’s defensive hustle, was able to make the routine fly outs, and stop ground balls, but was unable to convert a single ground ball into an out at first. The only ground out was a force out at third. The outfield was better, limiting extra bases on most hits, but struggled to return the ball in quickly towards the end of the game.

Offensively, the team’s bats came alive, scoring at least one run in 4 of the 6 innings of play. The A’s only went down in order once in the 2nd. Regardless, the team just did not have enough mojo to out play the Shamrock and fell 24-12.

Andy Wolan is a reporter for MLSB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Softball or its clubs.