BISBEE, July 5 - The event Bisbee was waiting for didn't happen Sunday evening, when a driving rain drowned the long-anticipated Warren Ballpark Centennial Celebration.
The gala celebration, which commemorated the 100-year anniversary of what locals believe to be the oldest surviving ballpark in the U.S., followed the three-day Bisbee Copper Kings Second Annual Baseball Tournament. The event was postponed when a hard rainstorm flooded the field and drenched the crowd gathering in the grandstands.
Festivities will be rescheduled for Aug. 1, when the El Paso Sun Kings return to Bisbee to play the Copper Kings, says team president Tom Mosier.
"It's always a risk when you play ball in the summer," said Mosier. "El Paso is scheduled to come back August 1, and we are not going to let this season go by without celebrating the centennial."
Local residents and visitors were pouring into the ballpark late afternoon as the storm slammed into Warren. An autograph-signing party for fans who had purchased "Bisbee's Boys of Summer" baseball cards was forced to seek cover as the rain pelted the area.
Scheduled entertainment, including the Waterhole Number 3 barbershop quartet from Sierra Vista, local band Train Wreck and the 36th Army Band from Fort Huachuca was cancelled and those who showed up were given refunds or rain checks.
The storm, reminiscent of the deluge that caused the rainout of the July 4, 2006 baseball game, flooded the field and soaked equipment stashed in the clubhouse by the visiting El Paso team.
Plans are already underway to make the event even more memorable than before, said Mosier.
The rained-out centennial was preceded by three days of high-quality baseball played by eight teams from as far away as Denver, Colorado and El Paso, Texas. Joining the Denver Cougars and El Paso Sun Kings were the Mesa Garden of Gears, Tucson Nationals, Tucson Longhorns, Casa Grande Cotton Kings, Sierra Vista Aztecs and Bisbee Copper Kings.
Bisbee (2-2), finished in fourth place, tied with Denver in the eight-team tournament. The Mesa Garden of Gears, which also won last year's tournament, was the winning team, with a 4-0 record. El Paso was the runner-up with four wins and a 9-1 loss to the Gears in the Sunday championship game. Casa Grande and the Tucson Longhorns ended the tournament with 1-2 records, while Sierra Vista and the Tucson Nationals bowed out of the double elimination tournament with two losses each.
The Copper Kings began the tournament Friday afternoon by beating the Sierra Vista Aztecs 9-5.
Bisbee took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning of the opening game at Warren Ballpark. Center fielder Anthony Matias, who reached base on a single, later scored on a grounder by center fielder Armando Moran and second sacker Mike Mecucci, who doubled to left center, crossed the plate following a passed ball.
James Lilley, leadoff batter in the bottom of the second, was walked and later driven in by catcher Carlos Martinez to put the score at 3-0.
Right fielder Sterling Shuller added two more runs to Bisbee's total in the fourth with a home run.
The Aztecs came back in the top of the fifth with three runs, including two solo shot home runs, off Copper Kings pitcher Blake Berg.
Bisbee increased their 5-3 margin in the bottom of the fifth by taking advantage of four walks by the Aztec pitchers, an error and a pair of hits to produce four runs.
Sierra Vista rallied in the top of the seventh for two more runs but was unable to close the gap.
Buena High School senior Blake Berg went the distance on the mound for the Copper Kings, giving up five runs on 10 hits.
Bisbee's runs came off six hits, five walks and two hit batters.
Miguel Trujillo went two for two for the Copper Kings.
Zack Baldenegro, who played for the Copper Kings in previous seasons, was the leading hitter for Sierra Vista, with a two-run home run and a pair of doubles.
Bisbee took on the Tucson Longhorns Saturday morning at the Cochise College Douglas campus field, in a contest that was undecided until the final and seventh inning.
Copper Kings pitcher Kyle Cormier kept the Longhorns from scoring through the fifth inning, while his teammate Sterling Shuller was able to take advantage of a single, a stolen base, a sacrifice bunt by catcher Carlos Martinez and a passed ball to cross the plate in the top of the fifth inning.
Tucson scored two runs off Bisbee reliever James Lilley in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead.
The Copper Kings came back in the top of the seventh to score two runs off three hits to reclaim the lead at 3-2. Lilley retired the side in the bottom of the seventh to clinch the win.
Sterling Shuller went two for two for Bisbee and scored two of the Copper Kings' three runs.
In their third tournament game the Copper Kings ran into a brick wall in the form of their 2009 nemesis, the Mesa Garden of Gears.
The Gears jumped on Bisbee starting pitcher Calen Pennington for two runs in the top of the first inning. The Copper Kings returned the favor in the bottom of the second to tie the score at 2-2
Bisbee added two runs to their total in the second inning to take a 4-2 lead. The Gears chipped away at the Copper Kings lead with a run in the third and then scored a pair of runs in the top of the fifth to retake the lead, 5-4.
The see-saw battle continued when Bisbee right fielder Sterling Shuller drew a walk and scored off center fielder Armando Moran's triple to tie the game 5-5.
Mesa scored the winning run off a bases-loaded wild pitch by Bisbee relief pitcher Carlos Lopez in the top of the seventh inning.
The Copper Kings were unable to score in the bottom of the seventh, losing the game 6-5.
Carlos Lopez, who entered the game in relief of Pennington in the top of the seventh with no outs and the bases loaded, was the losing pitcher.
Sterling Shuller went three for three at the plate for the Copper Kings with a double and a pair of singles. Second baseman Mike Mecucci and center fielder Armando Moran each went two for three for Bisbee.
Bisbee lost its chance to remain in the double elimination tournament Sunday morning when the Copper Kings lost to El Paso 6-5.
El Paso scored first, with a single run in the top of the first. Bisbee took a 2-1 lead
in the bottom of the first on a two-run home run by center fielder Armando Moran, but the Sun Kings added another run in the second to tie the game at 2-2.
The Copper Kings regained the lead in the bottom of the third when Moran scored off first baseman Calen Pennington's RBI double. The Sun Kings came back in the top of the fourth to score a pair of runs off Bisbee pitcher Tyler Johnston, regaining the lead at 4-3.
Bisbee battled back in the bottom of the fifth when catcher Brandon Berg drove in Moran to tie the game at 4-4.
El Paso took the lead again in the sixth inning, rocking Johnston for three runs off five hits.
Pennington's two-run home in the bottom of the seventh with one out raised the Copper Kings' hopes but the next two batters were retired to end the game with a 7-6 Sun Kings victory.
Tyler Johnston was the losing pitcher for Bisbee, going the distance while giving up seven runs off 14 hits and two bases on balls.
Armando Moran led the Copper Kings in batting, with three hits, including a two-run home run in the first, in three trips to the plate. Calen Pennington went two for three with a two-run home run and an RBI double.
Bisbee returns to the field this weekend, hosting the Garden of Gears in a two-day, four-game series at Warren Ballpark. The Friday and Saturday double headers both start at 4 p.m.
On Sunday the Copper Kings take on the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base Flying Mustangs in an exhibition game scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m.
For more information about the Copper Kings call 732-7325 or visit www.bisbeecopperkings.com.
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