It was a red-letter Friday for Mother Nature on the Japan high school field of play. Or more like a red-flag Friday for the affected teams.

Two DODDS-Japan Soccer League matches were scotched at halftime due to lightning in the Camp Zama and Yokosuka Naval Base areas. A boys match was called off before it could even begin. A Kanto Plain Association of Secondary Schools baseball doubleheader at Zama also was washed out.

And the Okinawa Activities Council track and field season somehow got off the ground despite daylong rainfall, which forced organizers to scratch the high jump, long jump and hurdles events.

Nile C. Kinnick’s girls soccer team had rallied from a 2-0 first-half deficit on goals by Brittany Evans and Chelsea Keolanui-Wilson. But lightning started with a minute left in the first half of a wind-raked contest at Yokosuka’s Berkey Field.

“Unlucky for us,” Kinnick coach Nico Hindie said. “It’s a shame. We were both looking forward to the second half. We’ll get them tomorrow.”

Edgren also was slated to play a boys match at Kinnick; the contest likely will not be rescheduled, Hindie said.

The theme remained the same up Route 16 at Camp Zama’s Trojans Field. Solo goals by Shawn Kee, Daniel Polaski and Zach Woods put Zama American ahead of Yokota 3-2 by halftime.

Lightning appeared as the second half kicked off; the teams retreated inside for about 15 minutes. Three minutes after the match restarted, lightning reappeared and it was called off in the 47th minute.

“It’s too bad. We were pressing at the time,” said Yokota assistant coach Scott Samdahl. The Panthers replied with goals from Tony Presnell and Jimmy Niescier.

Edgren’s baseball team was greeted by the same foul weather, which inundated Zama’s Rambler Field and forced cancellation of the Eagles’ scheduled doubleheader with the Trojans.

The teams were scheduled to square off again on Saturday, but “it doesn’t look good,” Trojans coach Tom Allensworth said.

OAC track season-opening meet organizers decided to press ahead with the meet despite conditions so slippery that half the field events and the hurdles had to be canceled.

“A little too slick,” event director and Kubasaki coach Charles Burns said. “At least we got it in. I hate to have to reschedule these. We cut out the hazardous events. The rest, all you need are a good pair of track shoes.”

Athletes by the score competed with at least part of their thoughts on the tricky surface.

“I went with my regular throw, did my regular glide. It was slippery, but a good athlete should be able to adapt to their surroundings,” Kubasaki senior Lawrence McClain said. He and his sophomore sister LaKesa McClain swept the discus and shot put.

Sprinters entered the starting blocks concerned that the race’s start could also be the finish with one false step.

“Falling. You don’t want to do that,” said Kadena sprinter Lorien McKinney, who won the 100 in 13.25 seconds. “It can happen easily. Once you get started, the rest takes care of itself.”

Over in South Korea, where rain was hardly a bother — sunny skies, mid-40-degree temperatures — Seoul American junior midfielder Sarah Eades came out victorious in her first encounter with her old Daegu American squad. She scored a goal as the Falcons beat the Warriors 3-0.

Before the match, coach Lori Rogers said Eades told her that she was “sort of worried, had mixed feelings, playing against her best friends. But once she got on the field, she had her game face on.”

“It was actually fun,” Eades said, adding that her ex-teammates had talked about the encounter the day before and even during the match. “Once the whistle blew, it was all business.”

Eades and Daegu American won the Far East Class A title last May in a 2-1 overtime victory at Matthew C. Perry. Eades transferred to Seoul American following the school year.

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