April 20-21

The rain moved out of the area overnight, it was sunny and much cooler on Saturday morning. Had lunch with Jenny and her mother in Quarryville, in the afternoon it was back to the Sovereign Center for game #2 with Florida. On this night the Royals turned the tables on the 'Blades, recovering from the one-goal loss on Friday with a one-goal win of their own. This game was much like Friday's except the roles were reversed. Kirk MacDonald scored on a turnover for an early 1-0 lead, Yannick Tifu made it 2-0 in quick order. After Florida cut the lead in half Tifu found the net again in the second period to up the lead to 3-1. The 'Blades got back within one in the third but in the closing minutes Mark Owuya held the fort to even the series at a game apiece. The next three games in the best-of-seven are in Estero, Florida on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, a possible game #6 would be back at home on Tuesday the 30th. On Sunday afternoon we were at the ballpark on North Prince Street, the Barnstormers continued their opening homestand with a doubleheader against the Camden Riversharks. The double-dip was as a result of Friday's game being rained out, as a rule I'm not an aficionado of day games but in April the temperatures are generally not as oppressive as they might be in the summer months. It was chilly and windy at 1:30 game time, in the opener the Stormers rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win 4-2. Blake Gailen hit a three-run homer, infielder Kevin Howard added an RBI hit. Lenny DiNardo won it with relief from Robert Hinton and Yoslan Herrera. In the second game the Riversharks took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. The Stormers tied it quickly in their half, one run scoring on a wild pitch and the other on Travis Denker's sacrifice fly. Neither team touched the plate again until extra innings, the Stormers won it when catcher Charlie Neil doubled, advanced to third on a sac bunt and scored the game-ender on infielder Kody Kirkland's fielders-choice ground ball. The club went deep into the bullpen as Alan Johnson started and worked three innings, original Barnstormer Ross Peeples worked in relief as did Derrick Loop, Tim Dillard, Brian Tallet and winning pitcher Jason Urquidez. The second game wound down around 6:50 or so, not bad all things considered. The Stormers continue the homestand on Tuesday but I probably won't make it there again until the second weekend of May. Take care, thanks for reading.