Saturday, May 23, 2009

The skies are darkening


After a fully dry day, the skies are beginning to darken and rumble here in Gainesville. The forecast calls for the weather to worsen at 8 p.m. (first pitch: 8:05), but the skies behind the hotel don't agree. There is thunder and lightening coming with the dark, foreboding clouds.
The attention to weather comes from a lot more than a fear of getting wet. There are some fairly important rain rules that everyone needs to know.
First, when it comes to rain, the umpires decide when it is raining too much to play. There is one exception to that, one safety rule that there is no interpretation allowed. It is the lightening rule. If there is lightening within six miles of the venue, the game is automatically halted for thirty minutes. Minimum.
There is another rule that unfortunately needed to be brought up yesterday. It's the rained out series rules. The Bears and Gators have until Monday to wrap up this series. If only one game gets played, the winner of that game will advance to Oklahoma City. If two games are played and the series is tied 1-1, then the higher seed (Florida) will advance. If no games are played, then the higher seed (Florida) will advance.
Everyone is hopeful that between the showers, softball can be played, but the skies have just opened up and a heavy rain is starting to fall. The radar shows this is a band of showers that will pass on through. It's still five hours until game time, so hopefully all will be well at 8 p.m. Tune into ESPN to see for yourself.

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