Thursday night’s thunderstorm had people in Lawrence scattering in search of shelter.

But were some of the slow-pitch players at Clinton Lake Softball Complex forced to stay on a field too long?

Gavin Young, a Lawrence resident who was playing there that night, thinks so.

“I was standing on second base getting soaked,” Young said, “and I was afraid to leave the base because I thought the (umpire) would call me out. We saw lightning all around, and the umps wouldn’t stop the game.”

Finally, Young said, after a bolt of lightning was spotted across the nearby South Lawrence Trafficway, the umpires called it.

Fred DeVictor, head of the city parks and recreation department, said Friday he hadn’t heard any complaints about possible endangerment Thursday night.

“But we’ll certainly review the situation and look at it,” DeVictor said. “We want to be real cautious and safe when it comes to lightning.”

Clinton Lake Softball Complex is one of three city facilities equipped with lightning detectors. The other two are Holcom Sports Complex and the Youth Sports Inc. fields.

“You can set them for four ranges,” said Gary Hines, the city’s director of sports facilities, said of the $300-plus devices. “The closest is three to eight miles, and that’s what we have ours set on.”

When lightning registers, the detectors set off a beep in the office that easily can be heard by the complex supervisor.

“Our policy is that when we are aware of lightning we let the umpires know,” Hines said. “The umpires have the final decision.”

Bob Stanclift, who supervises adult sports for the city parks and recreation department, is in charge of providing the umpires for city slow-pitch games.

Usually, Stanclift said, when he heard a complaint, it was from a player who thought a game was called too quickly.

“I’ve had cases where on one field, they’re leaving,” he said, “and on the adjacent field, the players are begging the umpires to let them keep playing.”

In most cases at CLSC, four games are scheduled each night on the four fields in one-hour increments beginning at 6:15 p.m. Young’s team was playing in the night’s 6:15 p.m. opener on Field One.

CLSC’s three other fields also were being used that night, and those games were stopped, Young said, before his.

“The umpires told us we were two outs from making the game official,” Young said.

Umpires are paid by the game, but Stanclift stressed the umps wouldn’t have been trying to make the game official just so they could earn a paycheck.

“That would not have been a factor,” he said. “When the umpires arrive at a complex, they are guaranteed to be paid for one game whether it has to be called off or not.”

Still, Young is concerned he and his teammates, as well as their opponents, were forced to stay on the field too long Thursday night.

“They need to consider the safety of Lawrence families first,” Young said, “and the completion of games a distant second.”