Throughout most of Missouri early last week, district baseball tournament officials were shuffling schedules and sites due to Mother Nature pouring several inches of rain throughout mid-Missouri.

Every district involving a Warden Publishing Company (WPC) baseball team was affected in one way or another.

Starting with the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) Class 1, District 8 Baseball Tournament hosted by Stoutland High School and including Vienna’s Eagles, their tournament did not start until last Tuesday.

Moved to Versailles High School’s all-turf field, tournament officials were forced to play both first-round games and both semifinal contests all in one night last Tuesday.

Vienna had the longest wait of the night playing the fourth contest against Calvary Lutheran’s Lions who won their first-round game earlier in the day against the Climax Springs Cougars.

Capping about eight hours of baseball, Vienna posted a 1-0 victory over the Lions before falling to eventual district champion St. Elizabeth by the identical score of 1-0 in last Wednesday’s district championship game played back in Stoutland after their field was able to be made playable.

Linn’s Wildcats in Class 2, District 8 had their district semifinal contest pushed back a day from last Monday to last Tuesday due to inclement weather and unplayable field conditions.

Falling 4-1 to Russellville’s Indians, Linn ended their season at New Bloomfield High School’s Rod Haley Field.

Moving up to Class 3, Dick Ochsner Ball Park in Hermann hosted the MSHSAA Class 3, District 7 Tournament with only the district championship game affected.

Hermann won their first-round contest back on Wednesday, May 13 by a 10-0 final score over Missouri Military Academy before falling to eventual district champion Centralia in the semifinals last Friday by an 8-1 final score.

Centralia went on to defeat North Callaway 7-2 in last Monday’s district championship game that was played on Battle High School’s all-turf field in Columbia due to Dick Ochsner Ball Park being unplayable.

MSHSAA Class 3, District 8 Tournament action hosted by Belle High School at Tiger Field inside Belle City Park was delayed by two days.

Able to get both first-round games in back on Thursday, May 14, heavy rains made Tiger Field unplayable pushing the semifinal contests back to last Wednesday at Owensville High School’s OHS Field where Belle defeated Cuba 8-4 and Fatima handed Dixon a 16-0 loss.

Fatima went on to capture the district title last Thursday with a 5-0 win over Belle to advance to sectional action yesterday (Tuesday) in Westphalia against Centralia’s Panthers.

Owensville’s Dutchmen had to wait an extra day to play their semifinal contest in the MSHSAA Class 4, District 9 Tournament hosted by Osage High School.

Originally scheduled to face Eldon’s Mustangs last Tuesday night, the Dutchmen took on Eldon last Wednesday falling 5-1 to the eventual district champions who upset top-seeded Helias 6-4 last Thursday night.

Overall, our area district tournament officials did the best job they could in spite of Mother Nature dumping several inches of rain on our part of Missouri.