The sunny weather was out in force on Monday, in the afternoon we were at McCaskey for the next-to-last game of high school baseball season. Lancaster Catholic was the opponent for a non-divisional contest. In times past a football or basketball game between these schools was a big deal, these days it happens rarely because the respective enrollments make it impractical. It was always billed as the "city rivalry" although LCHS is technically located just outside the city limits in Manheim Township. On this day the Red Tornado lost 10-0, the game was called via the mercy rule after five innings. In the second inning the club had a man on third with no outs and couldn't score, in the fourth the bases were loaded with none out and no one could come through with the big hit. Tobe Kuntz started and took the decision with Braulio Rivera and Elias Morales working in relief. On Tuesday evening the season ended with a 7:00 game versus Hempfield, this was originally scheduled for the previous Friday when we would have needed a roof over the field to get the game in. It was Senior Night, before the game we spotlighted Yanmanuel Gutierrez, Braulio Rivera, Janielle Rivera, Andrew Laureano, Noah Stoycos, Cole Hatfield, Alex Ruiz, Orion Frailey, Alex Vargas and Max Brewster as the Class Of 2022. There was an excellent turnout for the festivities, the 7:00 games always seem to draw a better crowd than the 4:15 starts for the obvious reasons. Regrettably for the JPM supporters the game went largely the way the season itself went, the Red Tornado lost 6-1. The lone run scored in the fourth when Braulio Rivera singled, advanced to third on Ruiz' double and scored on Frailey's sacrifice fly. Orion started on the hill and worked into the fifth inning, Elliot Fluck finished it in relief. The club final mark in Gilbert Vega's first year as head coach is 4-16 with just one win at home, the team's road wins were over Solanco, Lancaster Mennonite and Penn Manor. The county Midget League season starts on May 19th, with nothing going on at Reservoir Park anymore (and there is no new word on that front) I should be able to work those games as I did in 2021. Stay tuned. Take care, thanks for reading.
