Friday night at the ballpark for the start of a new series, the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs visited for their first appearance in 2021. The Crabs currently rank as the league's fourth-oldest franchise, they began play in Waldorf, MD (about thirty miles southeast of Washington DC) in 2008. In the Friday opener the vistiors went up 2-0 in the second, in the bottom half Alejandro De Aza walked and scored on an RBI double by Nick Shumpert to put the Stormers on the board. The Crabs went ahead 3-1 in the fourth, in the home sixth the Stormers posted three run to take the lead. De Aza singled and scored on Anthony Peroni's RBI double, Shumpert reached on an error and Cleuluis Rondon singled to load the bases. A fielders choice groundball forced Peroni out at home, Melvin Mercedes followed with a base hit plating Shumpert and Rondon making it 4-3 Stormers. In the eighth Kelly Dugan singled and scored on a passed ball to give the Stormers an insurance run which proved important, the Crabs loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth but could score once as the Barnstormers held on just barely for the tough 5-3 win. Dominic DiSabatino earned the victory with Gabriel Moya working out of the ninth-inning jam for the save. On Saturday there were thunderstorms in the forecast, after lunch Jenny and Helen elected to stay home and in hindsight it was a smart decision. I drove through a hard storm on the way home from their place but by 5:30 things were looking good. On this evening the Crabs again took an early 1-0 lead, in the home fourth the Stormers tied it when LeDarious Clark was hit by the pitch and Anderson De La Rosa followed with an RBI double. By this time the skies were getting darker, as the Crabs batted in the fifth it began to rain. As the rain and the wind picked up in intensity the Crabs scored three run in the downpour to go up 4-1. The Stormers were retired in order in the bottom half and by that point the infield was a quagmire, the umpires suspended play and after the required wait time the game was called official. Cody Boydstum started for the Stormers and suffered the tough-luck loss, with it all I was home well before 9:00. The series ended on Sunday afternoon with a Barnstormer win, I was in Rothsville for the final week of the hockey league's regular season. Hillside beat Ephrata and Township won over Warwick, playoff semifinals are on the 25th with the consolation and championship games on August 1. Take care, thanks for reading.
