Deluge of rain and scoring means Lynn 14s, Revere must resume game today

SAUGUS – Baseball is the best game of them all because there’s no time clock.Baseball is the most frustrating game of them all because there is no time clock.Take your pick. That sentiment was about 50-50 last night at World Series Park in Saugus, where the Lynn Babe Ruth 14s had Revere down, 16-7, after five innings. Problem is, they have to play seven unless the winning team is up by at least 10 runs at the end of five innings.Since that didn’t happen (and only because Revere pitcher Dan Ciambelli got Lynn’s Joe Scuzzarella to strike out with runners on second and third in the top of the fifth), the game was suspended due to darkness and will be resumed today at 4:30, also at World Series Park.This wasn’t simply a case of slow play (although control problems plagued both teams in the early portions of the game). It was also a case of continual wretched weather – a condition that has turned this year’s youth baseball tournaments into a chamber of horrors.Two batters into the game, umpires Tom Lepley and Mark Nemeskal halted proceedings when they spotted a bolt of lightning (with aluminum bats and metal spikes, the rules on lightning are very strict; see it and you stop the game ? no argument).After a mandatory 10-minute delay, the game got going again ? just in time for another very visible bolt that appeared over the trees in left field.Ten more minutes passed, and while it rained for a few moments, it didn’t pour, which allowed the game to continue unabated until it got dark.However, for the first inning and a half, Lynn was doing all the playing. The Lynners scored 13 runs in the first two innings to Revere’s zero. Even after Revere responded with four in the bottom of the second (thus taking the slaughter rule off the table for the time being), Lynn manager Dave Liberge decided to empty his bench ? not even thinking that the slow pace of the game might force an early suspension of play.”It never even crossed my mind,” he said.Meanwhile, Revere relief pitcher Joe Little, who struggled early, settled down and held Lynn in check while his team chipped away. And by the top of the fifth, Revere had turned a 13-0 blowout into a more manageable 14-7 deficit.”They didn’t quit,” said Liberge. “You have to give them credit for that.”The umpires informed the managers that the game would not go beyond the fifth – at least not last night. Lynn got two in the top of the fifth, but couldn’t put the third one across to make it a 10-run game. Revere went out without scoring in the bottom of the inning, and everyone will be back in Saugus today for the conclusion.Stay tuned.