NEW ORLEANS – It wasn’t the way Townsend Homes wanted its season to end, but after two losses in a rain-soaked and much-delayed American Legion State Tournament, they’re probably glad it’s over.

The St. Charles Catholic-based team opened tournament play Friday with a 3-2 loss to the Houma-based Southland Hogs. They then lost to St. Landry Bank 9-0.

That was bad enough.

But Townsend Homes didn’t record its final out of the summer until sometime around 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, after a nearly 6-hour rain delay pushed the start of the game back to after 11 p.m. on Saturday. Another 5-hour rain delay on Sunday further wrecked the schedule. Had it advanced, Townsend Homes would have had to come back to play its next game at 9 a.m. Sunday morning.

Coach Wayne Stein said the late start and finish wasn’t that much of an obstacle to overcome.

“I didn’t think it was a big deal,” he said. “I was proud of my kids the way they handled it.”

The tournament already had been postponed a week due to Hurricane Barry, even though Kirsch-Rooney Stadium probably received more rain on Friday and Saturday than it did from the tropical system. The delay affected Stein’s team more, as several players had other obligations, which forced them to miss the tournament.

“We didn’t have half our roster due to vacation and what not,” Stein said. “You give them a schedule at the beginning of the summer with the dates on it. You can’t hold them to fire when that changes.”

Friday’s loss was a heartbreaker, though. The game was tied at 2 in the top of the seventh when Austin Champagne hit a solo homerun for the game-winning run. Townsend had tied the game in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single by Cade Pregeant. He and Bryce Bertucci both went 2-for-3 in the game.

Justin Dumas pitched a complete game, allowing four hits and striking out 2 and walking one.

Saturday was a long, drawn out affair. Tournament officials wisely moved the first game up and hour to beat the rain, but just before the start of the second game, scheduled for 11:30 but delayed until noon by the first game, a heavy thunderstorm moved over the field. Players, coaches and fans spent the next six hours waiting in the park.

Townsend Homes players and coaches had not arrived yet and stayed in touch via modern technology. The delayed game between Gauthier Amedee and Pedal Valves finally began at 5:45, but then went into extra innings. It finally ended just before 9 p.m., with Pedal Valves taking a 5-4 win in 10 innings. Former Comet Nick Lorio played a big part in the win, going 2-for-4 with 1 RBI and 2 runs scored.

After the completion of another game, Townsend Homes and St. Landry Bank finally took the field at about 11:30 p.m. The Indians held Townsend Homes to 2 hits and struck out 7. Pregeant and Dumas were the only Townsend players to get hits. Josh Tamplain, Ryan Laiche and Ian Arnett drew walks.

Pregeant, Ryan Laiche and Kendel Harris pitched, giving up 7 hits and striking out 5, but they combined for 10 walks, which didn’t help the cause.

The game was scoreless until the fourth, but the Indians scored 5 runs in the fifth and 3 in the sixth.

“We were very competitive for 4 ⅔ innings,” Stein said. “Then we just ran out of game. I was proud of the focus and the fact that we dug deep to play a full seven innings even though the outcome was evident.”