Monday night softball at Garrett Park, Drifters won over Riverside and Peach Bottom defeated the Silver Bullets. On Tuesday evening at the ballpark the Stormers opened a series with what would technically be the Atlantic League's newest franchise. The Gastonia Honey Hunters entered the league in 2021 and were very successful on the field, off the field was another story. The operation was dissolved during the offseason and immediately replaced with a new franchise under new ownership, the current club is known (at least for now) as the Gastonia Baseball Club. Some potential nicknames for 2025 are already being tried out, they recently played a series at home as the Gastonia "Gastronauts" and also on the drawing board are the "Galactic Dinos" (!!!!) and the "Bolognia" (REALLY?). On this night the game was scoreless into the last of the fourth, Shawon Dunston drew a walk and would score on a Chad Sedio single putting the Stormers up 1-0. Solo home runs by Cristian Santana and Dunston upped the advantage to 3-0 in the fifth, Gastonia scored twice in the seventh to close to within two. The Stormers got those two runs back in the bottom half, Dunston and Justin Farmer both walked and scored on Jack Conley's two-run single making it 5-2 Stormers. In the eighth the game turned in stunning fashion, Gastonia plated six runs and won it 8-5. Nile Ball started for the Stormers and pitched six innings of one-hit ball with eleven strikeouts, he left with one out in the seventh and from there Gastonia touched five Stormer relievers for seven runs (the first was charged to Ball's record). Newcomer Justin Kelly was the second of three pitchers used in the eighth inning and took the decision, the series continues on Wednesday night. Take care, thanks for reading.
