Talk about anti-climatic!

From the approaching chill of autumn, thru the bitter cold of winter to the anticipated rebirth of spring it was a hot-topic of conversation whenever coaches, players or fans gathered to talk about the 2013 local high school baseball season. Indeed, accompanying the arrival of the ill-fated Williamsport Outlaws and their takeover of Bowman Field the constant question remained; what affect will the ice rink on the baseball-playing surface have relative to the annual Backyard Brawl?

Understanding the importance and yearly anticipation of the one-day scholastic spectacular all the right things were said by the powers-that-be. Yes, the field would be ready. Yes, the games will be played. Yes, the high school players will get to experience the thrill and memories of playing on the local treasure often dubbed "The Gateway to the Majors."

May 11 has come and gone. No games were played. The scoreboard was never turned on. But if it had been it’s line score would have read; Mother Nature 1, City Officials 0, Loyalsock-Montoursville-South Williamsport- Williamsport 0. It was just a bad gig all the way around.　

Despite all the preparation we earthlings can muster Mother Nature is always the winner when she decides to dump the unwelcome upon us. Things of much more importance than a few baseball games played in the middle of May have been washed away before and will be again in the future. There can be no blame cast as to the decision reached on that dreary Saturday morning to cancel the Brawl. Decisions leading up to it, certainly; but not the final decision on that day.

Could haves, should haves and would haves have long been part of the sports lexicon. Depending on how your favorite team or athlete performed in any given contest at one time or another we’ve all used the familiar CSW-haves. The Brawl is not a newcomer to the local sports scene and each year its arrival is looked upon with anticipation in all four participating communities. But this year the Williamsport hosted tournament had many fans drooling at the match-ups.

As the teams prepared to brawl it out Sock, South and Montour were bringing a combined 39-4 record into the fray with the Lancers and Mountaineers only one loss of the season coming at the hands of the other. Montoursville had lost but twice and was hot on the heels of the other two for top seeding in this week’s District Four AA tournament. The Millionaires were carrying an 11-4 log into the event and were keenly aware of their three neighboring rivals lofty accomplishments and strong desire to knock them off.

Despite strong desires to emerge as Backyard Brawl champions the three smaller schools seemed to approach the May 11 diamond dual with different directions.

Shawn Finn’s South Mounties traveled to league foe Shamokin on the Thursday before the Brawl. With two league games remaining on their schedule two wins would assure the South Siders of at least a share of the Heartland-II title. Finn elected to throw his top three pitchers, Tyler House, Cody Nelson and Billy Rummings limited innings in hopes of winning the game and having eligibility for Saturday. The strategy worked as the Mounties avoided an upset defeating the Indians 5-3.

On Friday afternoon Jeremy Eck’s Lancers traveled to Lewisburg to meet the Dragons in an equally import HAC-II encounter. Should Loyalsock, like South, win their remaining league games they would share the league crown with the cross-river Mounties. Eck kept his sophomore ace Kyle Datres off the mound (maintaining his eligibility to pitch against Williamsport) and prevailed 4-1.

When it was learned that the Brawl was going to be moved from Bowman Field to Williamsport’s Logue Field Montoursville’s head man Travis Wurster seemed disappointed but unconcerned saying at the time, "we’ll play these games in a parking lot just as long as we get to play."

Also playing on the Friday before Wurster’s decision clearly showed his priority was on a league title. Montour’s ace Pierce Ranck gutted out a 3-2 win at Danville meaning that neither he nor the Tribe’s number two hurler Andrew Null would have been eligible to throw on Saturday.

The cancellation made that decision a wise one. Wurster had his sights set on trying to catch Jersey Shore for the HAC-1 title. "If we would have lost to Danville at least we went about it the right way. Saving guys for a tournament would be the wrong way to play the game. We didn’t want to do that.

The decision for Williamsport’s Dave Howe was much easier as the Cherry & White had a four-day rest heading into the big day. Despite the rest they too remained waterlogged.

So it was, the most anticipated high school tournament of the season fell victim to the elements. While all still have hopes of some district and statewide glory ahead they shared something in common with many of those disgruntled protestors of the 1960s, they all walked away brawl-less.