HEIDELBERG, Germany — Rain forced some of the top teams in Division I and Division II to the bench Saturday.

Division I leader Lakenheath’s road games against Kaiserslautern were canceled because of the wet weather, as were Division II games between Bitburg and Hanau.

But a hard-working ground crew — with a slight break in the rain — made sure AFNORTH’s 4½-hour bus ride to Heidelberg for a softball doubleheader wouldn’t be in vain.

At least until the games started.

Heidelberg pinned 19-0 and 16-2 defeats on AFNORTH in a nonconference doubleheader that began an hour late because of the conditions.

“At first, the umpires said the field was unsafe,” Lady Lions coach Al Simoncic said, “too much standing water. But the community ground crew kept putting out more dirt and soaking up the water, and the rain let up enough that we were able to play.”

Playing without any warmup, Heidelberg backed the three-hit pitching of Brittany Clark with a 17-run first inning.

The game was called after three innings because of the two-hour time limit.

The Lady Lions’ Alissa Dawson, Cassandra Pope and Ashlee Hamree each went 3-for-3. Dawson had a home run and four RBI. Carissa Beach and Lindsey Frutiger each drove in three runs for Heidelberg.

In the five-inning nightcap, Hannah Havenar threw a four-hitter and struck out 10.

Pope went 2-for-4 and drove in two runs. Clark, Havenar and Dawson also had two RBIs.

Heidelberg (8-6) will close out the regular season at Wiesbaden on Saturday.

Heidelberg and Wiesbaden were not affected by the Lakenheath-Kaiserslautern rainout. The scratched doubleheader was the last scheduled league action of the regular season for Lakenheath (7-1).

If Lakenheath doesn’t make up any of the games, the Lancers will claim the Division I championship even if Ramstein (6-2) sweeps Würzburg next Saturday.

With two wins, Wiesbaden would improve to 8-2, but its winning percentage would still trail Lakenheath.

In Division II, AFNORTH fell to 6-6 overall and will play at Patch on Saturday in a doubleheader to decide the league crown. AFNORTH and Patch are both 5-1 in Division II play.

Patch sweeps Mannheim

STUTTGART, Germany — The Lady Panthers set up this week’s showdown against AFNORTH with 10-6 and 17-6 victories over Mannheim.

Pitcher Lauren Sanchez walked five batters in the first inning of the opener and gave way to freshman Kasy’e Lalau, who struck out 11 batters the rest of the way to pick up the victory.

Lalau was backed by three hits from Kelly De Santo and a solo homer from Catherine Lonergan.

Krystal Salazar took the loss for Mannheim, which got a triple from Nyesha Green.

Lalau came back to claim her second victory of the day in the nightcap, recording five strikeouts. Salazar again took the loss.

De Santo homered and tripled for Patch, which batted around in the eighth inning. Alisa Nyevaz, who stole seven bases in the opener, swiped 11 in the second game.

Mannheim, which hosts Hanau on Saturday in the regular-season finale, is 0-6 in D-II play.

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