Tournament a total washout for first time in 20 years

By noon on Saturday, when Halls Ferry Park was supposed to be abuzz with activity, silence and sogginess reigned.

The hum of dragonflies zooming over puddles replaced the roar of crowds and baseballs flying over the fence.

There was no joy in Vicksburg, only mud. The Governor’s Cup had been rained out.

A day’s worth of rain left the Halls Ferry fields saturated and forced the postponement of all games for the second weekend of the tournament.

It’s the first time in the tournament’s 20-year history in Vicksburg that an entire slate of games has been rained out. Single days have been postponed or delayed several times previously, but this is the first time no games have been played at all.

“It’s very disappointing,” tournament director Tim Shelton said. “That’s money that’s used to supplement everything the league does. You spend the first weekend paying all the bills, and the second weekend it’s time to profit. (The Vicksburg Warren Athletic Association) probably lost $5,000 or $6,000 in profit.”

Shelton said the VWAA board planned to call individual coaches to gauge interest in rescheduling the tournament for next weekend or in the fall. A decision would likely be made by Tuesday, he said.

A late afternoon downpour rained out nine games on Friday night. Shelton and other volunteers reworked the brackets into a two-day tournament, but by sunrise Saturday it was obvious that it had been for naught.

The fields were still soaked, and a 50 percent chance of rain that was in the forecast for Saturday led Shelton to make the difficult call to postpone the tournament around 6 a.m.

That 50 percent chance materialized later Saturday morning and validated the decision.

“We could have put every ounce of field dry in Vicksburg on it and it wouldn’t have made a difference,” Shelton said. “You can stand either a long duration, steady rain, or intermittent thunderstorms, but not both of them. You get one chance to get it back playable, and then if it rains again you’re done.”