Up and at it early on Saturday morning, at 10:00 the McCaskey girls soccer team played its annual Senior Day game in the stadium and I handled the PA duties. The program has struggled in recent years but on this day they put it all together for a one-sided 10-1 victory and by all accounts everybody (except maybe the opponent) went home happy. After the game I headed south for lunch in Quarryville, in the evening Jenny and Helen were along for the game at the ballpark. They like to come on Saturdays but the hot summer weather often plays a role, this was only their third game of the season. High Point took an early 3-0 lead, in the bottom of the third Kelly Dugan's solo home run put the Stormers on the board. In the fourth Blake Allemand walked and scored on an error making it 3-2, in the sixth Allemand walked again and touched home on Cleuluis Rondon's RBI double to tie the game at three. In the ninth the Rockers scratched out a run and won it 4-3, Logan Sawyer (a 2019 Stormer recently added from the Frontier League) took the loss in relief of Zach Smith. Sunday was a hockey day in Rothsville, there were some puddles on the rink from an overnight rain but we got them cleared with leaf blowers and the games went on without issue. Warwick beat Ephrata and Township won over Hillside, we were done shortly before 1:00. I came back to town and went immediately to the ballpark, I arrived just as the game's second batter was coming up. I'm well-known for eschewing day games because of the afternoon heat but that was not a factor on this day, it was overcast and breezy with temperatures in the low-60s (and besides, it was the last game of the season and you HAVE to go to the last game). On this day the Barnstormers won easily 9-1 putting the game to bed with a five-run seventh inning. Offensive highlights came from Alejandro De Aza with three hits, two runs scored and two RBI, Devon Torrence with two hits and two RBI, Blake Gailen with a double and two RBI, team MVP Caleb Gindl had two hits and scored twice and Melvin Mercedes picked up an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Augie Sylk went six innings for the win with relief from newcomers Kyle Johnson (former New York Yankees property). Tyler LaPorte (Southern University product) and ex-MLBer Ryan Eades. The Stormers finish at 56-63 (with one road rainout cancelled), over in York the Revolution finished 56-64. Long Island and Southern Maryland meet in the North Division playoffs, Lexington and West Virginia pair up in the South. Take care, thanks for reading.
