The Bobcats dropped the second game in the best-of-three KIT League semi-finals like so many other contests on the year, by the slimmest of margins. After taking an early 2-0 lead over the Pirates, Marion fell behind 4-2 in the third inning on five consecutive hits off starter Dylan McCurry.
As the tell-tale lightning and wind gusts that precede a summer thunderstorm threatened an early end to the playoff contest, the Bobcats began to rally. But with only one out and the tying run in scoring position in the bottom of the sixth, Marion was able to push only one run across the plate, leaving the tying run and hopes for extending the season only 90 feet away.
Home plate umpire Brian Thomas sent the teams to their respective dugouts after six complete due to the approaching lightning. Shortly after the hometown Bobcats covered the home plate area and pitcher's mound with tarps, the skies opened and drenched the field with a 30-minute downpour. Thomas called the game around 9:30 p.m., giving Tradewater its ticket to the KIT championship game to face Owensboro beginning Friday.
There was no protest by either team regarding the decision.
Marion baseball fans now await a decision by the team's 20 investors as to whether the Bobcats will return in 2009 for their second season. Though General Manager Gordon Guess gave no indication the team would not return, he said nothing will be official until the investors vote on the matter later this year.
