MECHANICSBURG – Do something enough times and not only does it become familiar, it becomes comfortable – even a habit. The only real difference this time is that the weather has introduced a new element into the way that Myerstown goes about its business.
On a sticky Saturday evening at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Park’s Rickenbach-Shirley Field, an intense thunderstorm suspended Myerstown’s second-day contest with Paxton, in the eight-team, double-elimination Region Four American Legion baseball tournament. When the game resumes on Sunday at 10 a.m. back at Soldiers and Sailors park, Myerstown will find itself in a customary 2-0, fourth-inning deficit.
Should the current score hold up, Myerstown, 14-1 and the Lebanon County champion, would take on New Cumberland at 2:30 p.m., in a loser’s bracket test. Yet another comeback win would propel Myerstown into the 5 p.m. undefeated game versus Upper Dauphin, a 3-2 victor over New Oxford.
Myerstown had opened play in the Region Four tournament on Friday by rallying past host Mechanicsburg, 3-2. That victory represented M-town’s third straight come-from-behind, playoff win.
Saturday’s game began about ten minutes before its scheduled time of 5:30 p.m.. But the skies around Rickenbach-Shirley Field quickly blackened, and an intense cell of wind introduced a heavy downpour of rain.
Play was halted at 6:10 p.m. with Myerstown coming to bat in the top of the fourth inning, down two runs.
Paxton, the champions of Dauphin County, assumed a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning, against Myerstown starter Lance Hains.
It all started with two outs and nobody on, with a wild pitch, after Hains had apparently recorded the third out of the frame on a strikeout. Paxton used a Tyson Gill safety, a hit batter and a Myerstown error to plate the unearned run.
Paxton doubled its lead with a single run in the top of the fourth inning. Gill coaxed a lead-off walk ahead of Brady Park’s RBI-double to right field.
Myerstown wasted an opportunity to grab an early edge in the bottom of the first inning. Amani Jones led off with a booming triple to left field, but was stranded at third base.
Through four innings of work, Hains struck out six and walked two.
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