Saturday afternoon: Jenny and her mother were at my place for the first time since the last Royals Saturday night hockey game in May. They will generally come in town for the Saturday night ballgames but a lot of it depends on the weather and how either of them may happen to feel that day (Helen is in reasonably good shape but the fact is she's 84 and Jenny deals with arthritis in her leg joints). There were storms in the forecast, we had a brief shower around 3:00 or so. When the gates opened at 5:30 the sun was out but it was very cloudy to the southwest, at 6:30 gametime Damned If It Didn't. The Stormers took the field, it began to rain lightly during the anthem and by the time the soloist was finished it was coming in earnest. The field was covered and the system moved through quickly, the game finally got started forty-five minutes late at 7:15. Staten Island took a 1-0 lead in the first, in the bottom half Shawon Dunston reached on a base hit and Kelly Dugan hit a monster shot over the picnic tents in right giving the Stormers a 2-1 advantage. The FerryHawks tied it in the second but in the home half the Stormers replied with two more. Colton Shaver and Trace Loehr drew one-out walks, Jake Hoover doubled to score Shaver and Loehr came in on Melvin Mercedes' sac fly making it 4-1. In the third another two-spot was added when Andretty Cordero singled and rode home on LeDarious Clark's two-run shot to right-center. In the seventh Trayvon Robinson tripled and scored on a Mercedes sac fly giving the Barnstormers a 7-2 lead but the scrappy Hawks to their credit weren't quite done. A single run in the eighth and three in the ninth made it a 7-6 game, the Hawks had the tying run on base with two out but couldn't get he equalizer. Oscar De La Cruz went six innings for the win with Josh Graham, Erik Cha, Chase Johnson and West Tunnell (earning the save) in relief. Sunday temperatures were well into the 80s, with no hockey in Rothsville because of the holiday weekend I spent the day indoors in the AC. Take care, thanks for reading.
