ATHOL — The Sinclair Jimmy Fund tournament game between Chuck Stone Little League and North Leominster scheduled for Thursday was postponed due to field conditions. The two teams have not scheduled a make-up game as of yet.
Although skys were partly cloudy with no rain at game time, Desantis Field, home of the North Leominster Sinclair team, could not hosts games due to the rain that had fallen through out the day.
Massachusetts District 3 Little League, the governing body of the Jimmy Fund tournament, built into the schedule a period four days (July 27-30) for any make-ups games. The two teams must play during that span as the single-elimination tournament begins on August 1.
With a 2-3 record, Chuck Stone will face Quabbin (3-2) in the No. 2 vs. No. 3 elimination game on August 1 at 5:30 p.m. Quabbin was scheduled to face top-seeded Winchendon (5-0) on Thursday but also had its game postponed.
Quabbin has earned either the second or third seed of the tournament with its current 3-2 record, while Winchendon has earned the top-seed in the tournament. North Leominster sits in fourth place with an 0-5 record.
Chuck Stone could take the second seed with a win over North Leominster and Quabbin loss to Winchendon, depending on how many runs both teams score in their final games.
Chuck Stone and North Leominster were to schedule the make-up game any time starting on July 28, Chuck Stone could use starter Branden Engelke-Aiken in that game. Engelke-Aiken reached his 85-pitch limit in Monday’s game against Winchendon and must sit out four calendar days due to the little league rest requirement of four calendar days after pitching at least 66 pitches. Although Chuck Stone could use Engelke-Aiken again, it would be best to pitch someone else against North Leominster and save Engelke-Aiken for the single-elimination game. Engelke-Aiken has picked up both of his team’s wins, including in his team’s 11-4 victory over Quabbin back on July 11. Engelke-Aiken pitched 4 2/3 innings and struck out 11 batters during that game.