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By SCOTT PURKS
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 7, 2001
Rainouts led to a stacked schedule, which led to trouble for North Tampa Post 334 in last week's American Legion state A tournament in DeLand.
Because the first day's games were postponed Thursday, North Tampa, with a sparse pitching staff, played two games Friday.
North Tampa won its first game Friday, 7-5 over Jacksonville Post 88 in a game that started at 9:30 a.m., but lost the other, 7-4 to Fort Pierce Post 358 in a game that ended after 11 p.m.
North Tampa coach Jeff Mantei said it was tough playing two nine-inning games so far apart coupled with a two-hour rain delay during the second game and the fact Tampa area teams played seven-inning games throughout the season.
"We were playing well," Mantei said. "But when those rains came that night, well, you could just see our guys ran out of juice."
In Friday's late game, North Tampa walked eight batters, hit three and threw four wild pitches, essentially giving Fort Pierce all but one of its runs.
"That hurt because we felt we could definitely beat them," Mantei said. "
The next morning at 10:30, North Tampa had to pitch its centerfielder, third baseman and second baseman during an 11-7 loss to Bay County Post 375.
"We laid our guts on the line," Mantei said. "We were playing for pride. But we were playing on fumes."