I won't be able to provide too many details, definitely not the important ones, but the Green Hornets defeated RHS tonight 4-2 and quite likely sewed up the Shenandoah District regular season title. However, the Xs and Os of the game were almost completely put on the back burner because the game was delayed twice, once for lightning and a second time for apparent fan behavior. But please understand that a lot of what I will report is speculation.
As for the game itself, Wilson scored twice in the first and added a run in the second to move ahead 3-0. Riverheads meanwhile left the bases loaded in the second without scoring but did push across a run in the third to close to within 3-1. They then held Wilson scoreless in the home half of the third.
As the action moved into the fourth, we began to hear thunder but it appeared to be in the distance. Riverheads failed to score in the fourth and Wilson was batting when the announcement came to clear the stadium due to lightning. That was not a new experience for most of us and in fact Riverheads fans had been through it at a Waynesboro football game just a season or two ago.
I personally ran an errand during the delay and when I returned to Wilson, the game had indeed resumed. However even as I walked across the parking lot, I saw a flash of lightning and worried that we might not yet be finished with the weather.
As I settled back into the bleachers, I checked with other fans and of course looked at the scoreboard and determined that each team had scored a run........Wilson had managed one in the home half of the fourth and Riverheads had apparently just scored as it was 4-2 in the top of the fifth. The Gladiators were soon retired and Wilson came to bat in the bottom of the fifth.
Of course the discussion in the stands was all about the weather at that point and whether or not the game would be completed or if it might be called at some point, since it had reached the required minimum of 4 1/2 innings and therefore could be considered a "completed" game. But as it turned out, that part of the discussion was about to take a back seat to what happened next.
Wilson came to bat in the fifth and Riverheads quickly recorded two outs. One of those involved nailing a runner at third to take away a Hornet threat. Soon afterwards, without warning, we heard the PA announcer say something to the effect of "All fans need to vacate the stands and the game will continue when the stands are empty."
However to the best of my knowledge, that announcement had nothing to do with weather, even thought it had already rained while I was out and was raining lightly at the time the announcement came through. Instead, and this is part of that speculation that I mentioned back in the first paragraph, apparently a decision had been made that the game was going to continue, but without fans.
Now that would seem to imply that some fan or fans had been making the game difficult for the officials and/or players and the idea was to allow it to continue in peace. However, I cannot even begin to tell you what may have happened or what might have been said to cause such a decision to be made.
You see, the Wilson layout is such that home fans have bleachers along the first base line and visitors have a set looking directly at third base. However, fans from both sides also line up behind the screen as close as possible to home plate, wanting to have a better vantage point. That is of course understandable.
So during my first and second sessions watching the game, I was in the visiting bleachers. So if things were being said or shouted at the umpires from either dugout or from any of those fans closer to home plate, it would have been completely out of my earshot. The only thing I heard from someone in my section, and of course it fits into the category of hearsay, is that a Wilson player may have spit on a Riverheads player at some point.
So don't quote me on who said what, who did what, etc. but I did in fact witness the next parts of the proceedings and I have to admit it was all a first for me. Once the announcement was made to clear the field, everyone of course complied. However most of the Riverheads fans walked out through the main entrance gate (actually the ONLY gate) and were planning to watch the rest of the game from behind the outer fence. My guess is that a few decided to do that, and others followed suit, assuming that it would be acceptable.
Like everybody else I was standing among those fans waiting to see what would happen next. Well a lady from Wilson, I certainly assume an administrator, came out of the press box, addressed those Riverheads folks and apparently told them they had to leave altogether. I was not close enough to hear her exact words but based on the reaction she got, that was clearly the gist of her message.
Her message was not well-received to put it mildly. Among the comments I heard tossed back at her were things like "We did what you said...we left the stands." and "Are you going to give all these people their money back?" and "If we leave, what happens if one of our kids gets hurt. What are we supposed to do then?"
At that point, I moved further away, planning to watch the rest of the event from across the street near the tennis courts. From that vantage point, I could still see RHS players milling around the infield and I would have been able to see if the game had in fact resumed.
After 5-10 minutes or so, a pair of sheriff cars arrived. My assumption would be that the Wilson staff had called them to help disperse the crowd. I left for good at that point and since the Shenandoah District website shows the game as a 4-2 Wilson win, my guess is that it was never resumed and that the 4 1/2 inning score stood as the final. I suppose it is possible that they finished all seven innings without any further scoring, but somehow I doubt if that was the case.
Again I will emphasize that I have no personal knowledge about what transpired that resulted in all of that chaos. It was likely just a case of a few people going a little overboard. As I said the layout is such that only the people closest to home plate would have heard all or most of what was being said or yelled at the umpires. Those of us in the cheap seats would have heard only what was said in our little section and tonight, along third base anyway, there was nothing worse than you would hear at any game.
The bottom line is that it is too bad that sports in general are getting more and more frustrating for everyone involved, and it will be a shame if we get to the point around here where we make the news for stuff like this, just like we read in the papers on occasion. Everyone is on edge these days about a lot of things and something as innocent as a high school baseball game should be an opportunity to put other things aside and just enjoy some friendly competition.
But tonight, for whatever reason that didn't happen. Let's hope this was a one-time thing and that no one had to be hauled off to the hoosegow over it. Above all, let's hope that lessons can be learned so that it never happens again.
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