June 27-30

Monday morning at the mall for lunch, in the evening we finished the spring street hockey season at the rink. The Killbots won over the Misfits to clinch the West division championship three games to one. It had to be a satisfying victory for many of the Killbots after losing in the Finals in each of the previous three seasons. We may run an informal summer draft league if there is enough interest, we would need enough individuals signed up to form at least four teams. It's been advertised for the last few weeks, we'll know more by mid-July. On Tuesday I was at the ballpark, the Barnstormers hosted the Bridgeport Bluefish in game #2 of a four-game series. The Stormers won the opener on Monday, on this night they took a first-inning lead. Popular outfielder Blake Gailen (back with the ballclub from injury) and Kevin Ahrens reached base on back-to-back singles, sacrifice flies by Josh Whitaker and Josh Bell made it 2-0. Gailen's RBI double in the second put the Stormers up by three but the Bluefish fought back with two in the fifth and one in the seventh to tie the score. In the bottom of the inning Bell singled, Sean Halton followed with a two-run home run to put the Stormers back ahead 5-3. That would prove to be the final score, Al Yevoli won it in relief of Bryan Evans with Cory Burns picking up the save. On Wednesday in game #3 the Barnstormers played severely shorthanded, between injuries and excused absences the ballclub had just one available bench player. As a result manager Butch Hobson's lineup did not include a designated hitter, starting pitcher Terry Doyle was in the batting order. The game was scoreless until the fifth inning when K.C. Hobson singled and advanced to third, Doyle helped himself with a sac fly RBI to make it 1-0. In the Bridgeport seventh the 'Fish put four on the board, the Stormers got one back in the eighth on a Caleb Gindl RBI hit but it wasn't enough as the Bluefish won it 4-2. Doyle suffered the tough-luck loss but deserved a better fate. On Thursday the homestand concluded, on this night Bridgeport broke up a scoreless game with one in the sixth and four more in the seventh, they carried a 7-0 advantage into the ninth. The Barnstormers put together a last-ditch rally on RBI hits by Sean Halton and Jeff Kobernus (back from injury) plus a two-single from Charlie Cutler but the 'Fish held on for the 7-4 win, Kelvin De La Cruz was the pitcher of record for the Stormers. The ballclub travels to York over the weekend, I plan to do the Friday game if the weather holds up (there are thunderstorms in the afternoon forecast). Take care, thanks for reading.