May 18

The rain arrived overnight as predicted but by late morning it was gone, I made my way south for lunch with Jenny. After supper we were at McCaskey for the final game of baseball season. The weather over the last few weeks has reeked havoc with the schedule, all told the club had seven of its twenty games postponed including three that were banged TWICE before finally being played. This night was one of those, it was originally set for May 11th when it was moved to accommodate a divisional game. The makeup date on the 13th was called due to wet grounds and their was some question at that point whether the game would be rescheduled at all. This was a non-league game with city-rival Lancaster Catholic, LCHS qualified for league playoffs but were eliminated in the quarterfinals which opened the door for this game to be played on this night. Given my association with LCHS football it wasn't surprising that their coaches recognized me, one in particular from my formative days doing the PA for softball at Conlin Field in the 1970s. Before the game started at 7:00 we had the usual Senior Night ceremonies as Devin Ashba, Jeffrey Acevedo, Oscar Surillo and cousins David and Luis Padilla were recognized. The visiting Crusaders took a 1-0 lead in the second, in the bottom half Chris Rosario singled and scored on an error to tie the game. LCHS put two on the board in the third, JPM got one back in their half when Ashba singled and scored on Acevedo's RBI double. The Red Tornado pulled even in the sixth when Surillo drew a leadoff walk, advanced on a wild pitch and a flyout and scored on Rosario's sac fly to make it 3-3. In the seventh LC took advantage of a walk, a hit baseman and a base hit to regain the lead, that would be the final marker in the 4-3 LCHS win. Luis Padilla was the starting pitcher for McCaskey with Acevedo and Ashba in relief, Devin took the hard-luck loss. The Crusaders are a top seed in their bracket for the district playoffs later in the month but for JPM the season is over with a final mark of 1-19. The record is needless to say a disappointment but for me personally it felt good to be back working baseball even if it was "just" high school instead of the pros. It's always nice to have your efforts be appreciated, I can attest from personal experience that it doesn't happen everywhere (especially where it should happen the most). If things pan out properly I plan to continue with the program in 2017, I know I'll be welcome. Take care, thanks for reading.