A late afternoon shower made for wet playing conditions last night in Fairfield as number one ranked Pella made the trek for the district 11 baseball championship tilt, and a mid-game downpour left the field unplayable.

Fortunately for the Little Dutch, they were ahead 3-0 at the time of the deluge, and Jesse Jablonski’s club was declared the winner.

“The umpires immediately called the game, they said the field’s not going to be playable at all for at least several hours,” Jablonski said. “They didn’t feel confident in the safety of the players, and that’s what comes first.”

Pella won the five-inning contest without registering a hit. However, they did manage eight baserunners, thanks to five walks, a hit-batter and two Fairfield errors. Payton Shull and Tanner Wood walked back-to-back to lead off the bottom of the first inning, and each came around to score, which was more than enough offense for ace Grant Judkins. The junior righty allowed just two singles in five shutout innings while striking out six and not issuing a walk. Jablonski praised the effort afterwards.

“The most impressive thing was getting out there and getting right back on the hill and getting three quick outs and not giving their pitcher a chance to catch his breath after long innings out there,” he said.

Pella is now 32-4 on the season, and will play Oskaloosa tomorrow night in a sub-state game, with the winner advancing to the 3-A state tournament. The Indians were 6-2 winners over Chariton last night, but have a mountain to climb, having lost all three regular season contests against the Little Dutch. Tomorrow’s sub-state game will be played at Pella High, with first pitch at seven, and our broadcast starting at 6:45 after a shortened Marion County PM Sports Page on 92.1 KRLS.