Sometimes Mother Nature just doesn’t want to cooperate. Sometimes a few young people just want to play a tournament championship baseball game, but Mother Nature won’t allow it, like some kind of opposing force to Judge Mills Lane (I’ll allow it!)

Lightning is nothing to play around with, and the tournament directors at the Muscle Shoals SportsPlex made the right call in bringing the players off the field when Thursday night’s thunderstorm got underway in Colbert County and the surrounding area.

The players were brought into the press box, and what happened next was somewhat humorous. The space was filled with players, still with dirt and grim caked on their faces and uniforms, watching a small television set that had the weather map the bottom.

I overheard one Colbert Heights player ask his coach if he could go watch TV with the other team.

Funny, because they were sitting not 15 feet apart to begin with.

That is what competition breeds I guess. That is, until the lightning starts.

Then all of the players are just a group of kids that need to get out of a thunderstorm.

What surprised me the most was the number of fans that remained at the park until the game was called off entirely.

They stayed and waited for so long that I was able to go to a nearby restaurant, eat a late meal at my leisure, and return before play was to start up again.

That is what dedication looks like, folks.