Rain, rain go away

File photo by Mike Buhler Trey Bazzell (right) and the Kennett Indians are one of the few area teams that may benefit from this week's rains, as the Tribe enters the SEMO Conference Tournament with a relatively well-rested pitching staff. [Click to enlarge]

After a relatively dry start to the month of April, the last few days have been anything but.

The last four days have featured rain in at least some part of the Bootheel, resulting in postponements, cancellations and shuffled schedules.

The Kennett Lady Indians soccer team was slated to host Poplar Bluff on Tuesday, but rain postponed the game until Thursday afternoon, when a torrential downpour and the threat of severe weather halted the game just minutes after kickoff.

Staff photo by Mike Buhler Katie Briscoe (right) and the Kennett Lady Indians only got to play a few minutes of soccer against Poplar Bluff on Thursday before a torrential downpour ended the match. [Click to enlarge]

Also feeling the effects of the rain have been the area's conference baseball tournaments. First of all, rain washed out two first-round games each at the Bootheel and Tri-County conference tourneys on Monday, then washed out all of Tuesday's games.

While the Tri-County Conference was able to get all of its games played Wednesday and Thursday by rearranging schedules and moving the tourney from Campbell to Holcomb, Thursday's Bootheel Conference final has been pushed back until Wednesday of next week -- a move that could ultimately benefit title contenders Kennett and Senath-Hornersville.

The Lions have played five games in the last seven days -- a three-game tournament at Chaffee last weekend and a pair of Bootheel Conference Tournament games on Wednesday and the extra rest before a busy week next week should help.

For the Kennett Indians, it's a different story. The Tribe has played just once since a 13-2 win at New Madrid County Central on April 20 and will enter the SEMO Conference Tournament with a relatively well-rested pitching staff.

"The rain has helped us this week with our pitching," Kennett coach Aaron New said. "It's kind of tough to play two conference tournaments in same week but the rain's been a little bit of help to us in that way."

While New is unsure who will be starting in today's quarterfinal at Jackson, one candidate is junior ace Trey Bazzell.

"So far he's given us a pretty good chance to win every time he's been out there," said New.

Homecoming for Moore: Area residents who want to see William Moore play in person without driving to Atlanta should get a chance to, as Moore and the Falcons will take on the St. Louis Rams at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis Friday, August 21 in a preseason game.

Moore, a Pemiscot County native who was an All-American while playing college football at Mizzou, is thought by some to have a chance at securing the Falcons' starting strong safety job with the departure of Lawyer Milloy.

Lady Tribe aiming to run table: After coming up short last spring, the Kennett Lady Indians softball team is hoping to finish undefeated this spring and take both the Bootheel Conference regular-season and tournament crowns.

Kennett (12-0) has won the regular-season Bootheel title outright the last two season by going undefeated in league play both years, and has outscored opponents 73-4 in league play this spring.

One obstacle remains for the Lady Tribe: Senath-Hornersville. The Lady Lions ended Kennett's bid for perfection by downing the Lady Indians 5-4 in the Bootheel Conference Tournament championship last spring, and also handed Kennett its last regular-season loss in league play two years ago.

So far this spring, Kennett owns an 8-4 win over the Lady Lions, and the two teams meet again in a non-conference game Monday at Indian Park.

Mike Buhler is the sports editor of the Daily Dunklin Democrat. Contact him at mbuhler@dddnews.com