Destination: Nowhere

Five Games --- No Innings
(4/24/10)

With the rainfall the region was handed throughout Friday, it seemed unlikely many games would be on the schedule for Saturday, since more rain was forecast. When I awoke at 7:00 a.m. the sun was shining, and the National Weather Service radar showed no precipitation within 100 miles.

I poured over the local media websites to check on any cancellations and postponements. A few Saturday games were called off on Friday, but no additional games were showing up as cancelled on these sites this morning.

With my spring schedule taking more north of my baseball/softball coverage area (the region I can get to games with my fulltime schedule), I thought I would take a southward trek today, pending the weather, of course.

The plan was to catch an inning or two at several baseball games, and get some action video, as opposed to the interviews that you have seen this past week. I mapped out a five-game operation, that would begin in Rushville, for the host Rockets hosting Mendon Unity, then head over to Astoria for South Fulton against Peoria Heights, then make my way over to Lewistown for their matchup against Brimfield/Elmwood, then cut north to Cuba for North Fulton and Abingdon, and then head back home for the final innings of Orion/Macomb.

Before heading out, I checked as many sites as possible, so I wouldn't be making a long trip to nowhere. Finding nothing, I texted Mitch Worley of the McDonough Voice, and he said that both Rushville and South Fulton had cancelled on Friday. That took that leg of the trip out. Since Lewistown, and Cuba weren't that far out of the way, I decided it was worth a short drive to Fulton County, with nothing else planned on a Saturday morning.

I filled up the tank at Phillips 66 in Macomb, and my tank was thirsty. Thirsty to the tune of $56.03, meaning I must have been running on fumes. Driving down Route 116 east of Macomb, a song popped on Modern Rock 95.9. The chorus is, "Tommorow's just a song away", and the title turns out to be "Song Away" by the band Hockey. It's catchy, and has an 80's vibe to it.

Thinking I may be able to save a few miles on this trip, I texted B-PC/A head coach Dave Arnold, to see if his Prairieland Conference compatriots were still in action. He returned shortly, saying the Brimfield/Lewistown game was moved to Brimfield at 1:00, and the Abingdon/North Fulton game had been called off Friday afternoon.

Already into Fulton County, just past Marietta, home of the Testicle Festival in June, I shot through Smithfield and past Bernadotte and into Ipava, jumping back on Route 116. It was quite a bit out of my way, instead of turning around, but I had the time to burn on this mini Spoon River Drive.

Mitch had earlier texted that he thought the Orion/Macomb game was still on, so I headed out to Macomb High School shortly after 11:00 on my way back into town, but both diamonds were empty. My destination to nowhere, and the planning for next week begins. If time allows, the plan for Monday is to catch Class 1A (#2) United at Class 4A Moline.