FRANKLIN – It wasn’t supposed to end this way for Warren County North’s 11- and 12-year-old all-stars.

For almost an hour Wednesday night, tournament officials, the umpiring crew, coaches, fans and players hoped for a break from the sudden deluge of rain and flashes of lightning that brought a tense District 1 tournament semifinal game between North and defending champion Bowling Green East to a standstill in the top of the sixth inning.

Just past 11 p.m., with no letup in sight, the game – by rule, a regulation game and thus not subject to suspension to resume on another day – was called, giving Bowling Green East a 5-3 victory and a chance to play for the championship Thursday – weather permitting – at 4 p.m. against Owensboro Southern at Franklin’s Jim Roberts Community Park.

“They really pushed us to the limit, put us in a lot of tight situations,” BG East manager Rick Kelley said. “I was really proud when both Patrick Forbes and Dawson Hall came into some really tight situations with bases loaded and got us out of it. I was really proud of their composure.”

Warren County didn’t get that final opportunity, but the squad created plenty of chances against BG East. Down a pair of runs after RBI singles from Bowling Green’s Caden Whittle and Hall in the top of the first, Warren County North fell behind 3-0 on another RBI single by Dominic Davis in the second.

Warren County cut that deficit to 3-2 by the bottom of the third and had the bases loaded with no outs when Forbes came on in relief and escaped the jam without allowing a run.

Tyler Moore’s two-run homer in the top of the fourth gave BG East a bit more breathing room, but in the bottom of the fifth Warren County North again loaded the bases and whittled into the lead by scoring on a bases-loaded walk. That prompted Kelley to call on Hall, who’s clamp-down work provided another damage-free relief effort.

“The rain helped us because that kept him at 14 pitches, so he’ll be available for tomorrow,” Kelley said of Hall, who was planning to pitch the sixth on Wednesday. “We had some good defensive plays that backed it up as well.”

In the championship, BG East will face Owensboro Southern, which beat Logan County 7-2 in the other semifinal.

10- and 11-year-olds

Warren County South 17,

East Daviess County 0

Warren County South pounded out 17 hits to roll into Thursday’s championship with a 17-0 win over East Daviess in 3 1/2 innings.

Charlie Owsley was 4-for-4 with a pair of doubles and Connor Cobb went 2-for-4 with a home run to pace Warren County South’s offense.

“When these boys get hot, they feed off each other,” manager Joey Talley said. “And when they get hot, they just keep hitting and hitting. We put 20 up the first game, next two games we didn’t really hit it that well, made it an emphasis this morning to go hit. So we came out tonight and just absolutely blistered the baseball.”

Bryce Button, Clay Vincent and Keenan Briggs each had two hits and a double, Zack Davis added a pair of hits and Ethan Reynolds chipped in with a homer for Warren County South.

That provided more than enough run support for Warren County South starter Andrew Milam, who pitched four scoreless innings with just two hits allowed and no walks. He struck out seven.

Warren County South will face Muhlenberg County in Thursday’s 4 p.m. championship game. Muhlenberg County beat Logan County 10-0 in the other semifinal.

9- and 10-year-olds

Bowling Green East 8,

Warren County North 2

Bowling Green East stretched a one-run lead heading into the top of the fifth into a six-run win with a pair of three-run rallies late against Warren County North.

“It just took us a little while to get our bats going,” BG East manager Jef Goodnight said. “But we played a great defensive game, too. Our pitchers did well. We’ve only given up eight runs now in the entire tournament.”

Harrison Yates and Evan Schallert combined to secure the win for BG East. Yates struck out six over 4 1/3 innings before Yates finished up with 1 2/3 scoreless.

After pulling ahead 5-1 in the top of the fifth, BG East snuffed a dangerous rally by Warren County North that tallied one run and could have been more if not for Whitt Glosick’s arm in left field, as his throw to the plate was on the money for the inning-ending out.

Warren County North loaded the bases again in the sixth but couldn’t push a run across.

“Our boys came to play today,” said Adam Brown, who co-manages Warren County North with Todd Frank. “They put the ball in play, they played their hearts out. (BG East) got a few extra hits than we did. It happens.”

Kaiven Hinton and A.J. Hodge had two hits each to lead Warren County North.

Matthew Escalera was 3-for-3 with three runs scored to lead BG East. Chaze Huff and Cole Phillips added two hits apiece, and William Alexander had two RBIs.

BG East will face Owensboro Southern in Thursday’s 4 p.m. championship game.

Owensboro Southern 8,

Warren County South 2

Logan Talley’s first-inning RBI single gave Warren County an early lead, but Owensboro Southern answered with five runs in the bottom of the inning to take command in Wednesday’s semifinal.

“They’re learning and they did fine,” Warren County South manager James Napper said. “We’ve got like four or five travel teams in one team here, and trying to get them to focus as a group is a tough adventure to do, but it’s a fun one and I couldn’t have a better group of guys to do it with.”

Ty Croghan had two hits for Warren County South, and Brady Patterson added a double and Daniel Strain had an RBI single.