It’s not often that a game that is played outdoors is moved to Boone because of bad weather.

Yet that is the case when it comes to the Northwestern 4-A Conference baseball tournament championship game. After three delays dating back to last Friday, Watauga will host South Caldwell in the title game Tuesday night beginning at 6:30 p.m.

In the NWC softball tournament, Watauga’s game at South Caldwell was also postponed until Tuesday night.

Watauga’s baseball team beat East Burke 9-4 in the semifinals of the conference tournament last Friday, but forecasts that called for violent weather Saturday and rain that fell Sunday and Monday force league officials to postpone the game on those two days.

Watauga the NWC regular-season champions and go into the game with a 17-6 record. The Pioneers finished the regular season with a 10-2 record and swept South Cadwell during the conference season.

South Caldwell is 19-4 overall and 9-3 in the NWC. The Spartans beat Freedom and A.C. Reynolds in the first two rounds of the NWC Tournament to get to the finals.

The teams don’t have many more days to get the game played. The Pioneers begin the state 4-A playoffs Friday with a home game, while South Caldwell also opens the tournament this Friday.

The game Tuesday presents a difficult situation for Watauga coach Pete Hardee. He was expected to use Jon Sharpe on the mound against the Spartans last Saturday with the hopes that Sharpe would be ready to pitch the opening game of the state playoffs Friday.

However, should Sharpe pitch Tuesday, he would have just three days rest to pitch again Friday. Cal Hardee, Watauga’s other starter, tossed seven innings last Friday against East Burke and is unlikely to be the starter Tuesday against South Caldwell.

Another option would be to have Will Littlejohn or Jake Wallace pitch against South Caldwell. Littlejohn threw a complete game in a 4-3 win over North Davidson two weeks ago.

South Caldwell is expected to counter with ace Cody Penny, who pitched in the finals of last year’s tournament against the Pioneers, which South Caldwell won. Penny, however, was the starter in Watauga’s 12-6 victory over the Spartans at Watauga’s field earlier this season.

Penny will face a Watauga lineup that includes leadoff hitter Baine Martin, who nearly hit for the cycle against East Burke. He was missing a home run, but hit a single, double and triple. He also had a home run in Watauga’s