A number of Tamworth baseballers have been left with "a bad taste in the mouth" after their campaign for a June Carnival A grade title ended abruptly this morning.
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The home side was slated to face the KC Gallopers in the first of two semi-finals today.
But when players arrived at the ground in anticipation of the 8am start, it was shrouded in a thick fog which made seeing even a few metres ahead difficult.
Matches needed at least one hour of play to be considered complete, and so the umpires continued to push back the start time in the hopes that conditions would improve.
By 9.30am, the latest possible starting time, conditions hadn't improved sufficiently by the umpires' reckoning and so the games were cancelled.
The two top-ranked teams, the Gallopers and Canberra, progressed straight to the final.
"We're disappointed," one Tamworth player told the Leader.
"The fog had cleared up. Every other grade on every other field played except first grade, because the umpires deemed it unsafe.
"But on Saturday morning, we played in the rain. And Saturday afternoon, we played in the dark where the outfielders couldn't see the ball.
"It's ultimately the umpires' decision whether the game is played. But when the goalposts keep moving ... it leaves a bad taste in the mouth."
Tamworth lost their two first games of the tournament on Saturday, before rebounding to beat the Gallopers on Sunday.
Knowing there were only four teams in the A grade competition, and that a position in finals was guaranteed, Tamworth rested some of their better players to ensure they were fresh for the semis.
The team's two best pitchers, Andrew Ferris and Tim Atherton (the latter of whom has played for Australia), did not throw a single pitch across the three days.
Tamworth Baseball Inc. vice president, Hayley Bullock, "absolutely" understood the players' disappointment at being taken out of the running so suddenly at their home carnival.
But ultimately, she said, it was a matter of safety.
"We had opportunities to extend play, but the fog didn't lift quickly enough," Bullock said.
"At that point, it's handed to the umpires to provide a duty of care to the players. It was their decision ultimately that it hadn't lifted early enough to facilitate that game going ahead.
"We'd extended as far as we could, we even provided an additional half an hour in order to create a shorter turnaround time between the semi-final finishing and the final beginning."
The Gallopers went on to defeat Canberra in the final, 7-2.
Long-time coach of the Brisbane-based side, Kevin Cantwell (for whom the team is named), was also dismayed that the semis weren't played, but said it was for the best.
"The fog was bad, it was really dangerous," Cantwell said.
"In first grade, they throw a lot harder and you don't want to see anyone get hurt."
It was a disappointing note to end what had otherwise been a good carnival for TBI.
Although they lost a few teams due to scheduling shuffles, to have 55 still turn out in spite of the poor weather all weekend was "absolutely amazing", Bullock said.
