Torrential rains delayed, but did not defeat, part of the John B. Steele Baseball Tournament on August 4.

The tournament, which began on Friday, included almost 40 teams from across the South Coast, Rhode Island, Cape Cod, and in the Boston area. Junior, Little, Pony, and Senior Division teams competed in the tournament, which started around 40 years ago with six teams, and has expanded ever since.

“I’ve been running the tournament for 25 years,” said Tournament Director Jim Vieira. “I’ve never seen a day like this.”

The weather was fine for the first day of the tournament and most of the morning on Saturday, but drizzle gave way to downpours in the afternoon. Games were put on hold when the players began having trouble gripping the ball. The heavy rain continued for several hours, but with the hard work of volunteers, the fields were clear and ready for play around 5 p.m., when the 1 p.m. games were picked back up.

“Teams get excited, and they want to play,” Vieira said.

For the Dartmouth junior league team, that was certainly true. The tournament had been tough so far, and having a game paused when they were down 1-0 wasn’t fun, but they were eager to get back on the field.

“We’re still having fun,” Owen Shurtleff said, gamely. When the team was led in a chant, they started strong: “Who are we?”

“Dartmouth!”

“What are we gonna do?”

“Win!”

Then, when they were asked “How are we feeling?,” responses varied- mostly “okay.” The team soon rallied.

“We’re gonna get base hit after base hit,” a teammate predicted. After game play started again, the team began to hit their stride, scoring several runs.

Besides, Brady Edgcomb lost two teeth.

In the junior league, the U10 team finished in second place in the tournament, however, falling to Sandwich 5-2 in the final game of the tournament.

Dartmouth's pony league team finished in first place in the tournament, defeating Greater New Bedford in the final game.