Southern Wayne gets washed out

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on April 27, 2011 1:47 PM

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WINTERVILLE -- The highly anticipated battle between top-10 teams Southern Wayne and Wilson Hunt never materialized on the South Central High School diamond Tuesday afternoon.

It was all Saints ... until Mother Nature intervened.

A late-evening thunderstorm rendered field conditions unplayable during a 12-minute delay and washed out the final day of the 2011 Pitt County Spring Invitational. The No. 6-ranked Saints held a comfortable 14-2 advantage over the No. 4-ranked Warriors when the umpires suspended action in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Hunt had pushed one run across and had the bases loaded with one out when heavy rains and lightning sent each team to their respective dugout.

The Charles B. Aycock-J.H. Rose and Eastern Wayne-Greene Central games were cancelled. North Lenoir led West Craven by the mercy rule when play was halted in the fifth inning at Guy Smith Stadium in Greenville.

The rulebook states if the teams complete five innings, the contest is deemed official. But since the home teams -- Hunt and West Craven -- were still batting when the thunderstorms rolled through the area, the games were suspended.

The games will not be finished.

Southern Wayne senior Zach Grantham belted a fourth-inning, grand slam home run to give starting pitcher Jackson Hayes some working room against Hunt.

The Saints plated seven fifth-inning runs, including a two-RBI single by Taylor Brock and a solo home run from Tyler Gainey.