NATCHEZ &045; Since Noah, apparently, decided to park his ark in the Miss-Lou this past week, there’s been little Cathedral head coach Craig Beesley has been able to do to prepare his Green Wave for their Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 1A best-of-three championship series with Houlka.

Beesley along with Cathedral players’ parents and others brought out buckets to bail the sunken outfield at Chester Willis on Sunday.

The brave souls were also using those egg-crate Styrofoam mattresses to sponge up a wet infield.

Beesley anticipated a playable infield for today’s 3 p.m. start, but he did seem concerned about the status of the outfield at Chester Willis.

&uot;We could back (the first pitch) up further if we needed to, but I think we’re supposed to get more evening showers,&uot; said Beesley, who enters his first state championship as Cathedral’s head coach. &uot;But if it’s too bad to play, we’re not going to start the state championship series on a field that’s unplayable.&uot;

Meaning a series that was once supposed to being Saturday could get pushed back to Tuesday or later depending on weather.

Senior Te Riley is still Game 1’s starter for Cathedral today, with sophomore Corey Walker getting the nod for Game 2 at Pontotoc, Houlka’s makeshift home field.

With the rain both coaching staffs have been relegated to finding new ways to keep their respective teams’ minds centered on the series.

&uot;We’ve talked about some of the big games that we’ve played here in the past,&uot; Beesley said. &uot;I also talked about the championship series I played in, where we had some things happen during the week that caused us to lose focus.&uot;

In 1989, Cathedral stole the home field advantage against Anguilla by edging its opponent 7-6 on the road. However, the Green Wave lost 13-3 in Game 2 before dropping the deciding game 5-3 at Warren Central High School in Vicksburg, the middle ground between the two schools.

The Green Wave’s current senior class reached the South State finals as sophomores before getting bumped by eventual state champion Mize in the second round last year.

&uot;The kids seem pretty relaxed. We’ve had a lot of practices in the cage this last week,&uot; Beesley said. &uot;Everybody is nervous, there’s no doubt about that. After all, we’re playing for the state championship. But they seem ready for the challenge.&uot;

As was his plan for Saturday’s game, before it was pushed to today, Wildcats head coach Jimbo Byers brought his team to Natchez a day in advance.

Houlka arrived at Chester Willis at approximately 3:30 p.m. Sunday, chaperoned by afternoon showers.

&uot;(Byers) knows the situation and he wants to play,&uot; Beesley said. &uot;He said he wasn’t going home until we get the first game in.&uot;

Beesley, who was an assistant coach at Cathedral during the Wave’s run to the Class 1A title in 1995 and runner-up finish in 1997, and Byers have not put their squads on the field in a week.

The Wildcats swept East Webster for the North State title as Cathedral was dispersing of Greenville-St. Joseph for the South State crown last Monday.

&uot;We had some momentum with the sweep of Greenville, which we thought was going to give us a better series,&uot; Beesley said. &uot;The time off has hurt both teams. There’s no advantage to either of us.

&uot;During the week, we didn’t get to do much of anything. We haven’t taken any ground balls. It’s just one of those situations where both teams are battling the mental game. If you think about things you can’t control, you’ll forget why you’re there to play the game.&uot;