Storm brings halt to Connie Mack title game

It didn’t appear anything was going to stand in the way of the top-seeded Las Vegas Wildcats in Saturday’s championship game of the Connie Mack state tournament at Faith Lutheran.

Then Mother Nature chimed in.

With the Cats leading the second-seeded Las Vegas Mustangs 8-3, the game was suspended by lightning and heavy rain.

The game will resume 6 p.m. Monday with one out and the Cats batting in the bottom of the fifth inning. A Mustangs’ victory would force a second game that would be played afterward.

The Cats wasted no time in jumping all over Mustangs starter Skyler Miller, scoring five times in the second inning.

With two outs and the bases loaded, Miller walked Layne Adaro and Joel Lindahl, scoring Kevin Verduzco and Brandon Smith to give the Cats a 2-0 lead.

Trevor Johnson then knocked Miller from the game with a bases-clearing double that scored Jacob Peters, Adaro and Lindahl.

The Mustangs answered, though, with three runs in the top of the third. Jacob Schilder reached on an error by Lindhal and Ashton Caniglia walked. Branson Tressler stroked a run-scoring single, and Caniglia later scored on a passed ball. Tressler eventually came home on groundout by Tyler Black.

The Cats got to relief pitcher Andrue Sanchez in the bottom of the fourth, as they tacked on three more runs.

Cats starting pitcher Danny Jimenez lasted three innings and allowed three runs, two earned, on four hits and two walks while striking out four. Reliever Brandon Smith retired six of the first seven batters he faced and was pitching when the game was halted.

The game was suspended immediately after Cats’ starting catcher Trace Everett flew out to center to lead off the bottom of the fifth.