After a long wait to get on the field, the Enchantment Little League baseball Majors all-star team would probably just as soon have played in pouring rain.

The weather caused Enchantment's first-round state tournament game in Alamogordo against Roswell's Noon Optimist, originally set for Saturday, to be bumped all the way to Monday night. That's when Noon Optimist handed Enchantment a 12-0, four-inning loss, sending ELL to the lower bracket.

Enchantment, which traveled to Alamogordo on Saturday, was slated to face Petroglyph Little League in a late Tuesday elimination game, set for after News-Bulletin press time.

"I'm proud of how we hung in there," said Enchantment manager Dave Wisneski. "We just didn't hit the ball." Three Optimist pitchers combined to no-hit Enchantment. Mike Benavidez threw 85 pitches and nearly went the distance, with Hunter Wisneski getting the final two outs of the fourth and final inning.

After a scoreless first inning, a base hit and a two-run home run in the top of the second put Noon Optimist up 2-0. Dave Wisneski said the player who hit the homer looks about 6-feet, 3-inches tall, and that player would hit another dinger later in the contest.

Even after Noon Optimist scored another four runs in the top of the third, the Enchantment deficit was still a manageable 6-0. It was until the Roswell team scored six times in the top of the fourth that the game seemed to slip away from ELL.

Enchantment made two errors in the contest. Noon Optimist, which had its Majors team within a few hits of the Little League World Series in 2007, made no errors Monday.

Teams on the lower side of the bracket, such as Enchantment, must win at least one game every day to stay alive, especially with the rain-delayed schedule.