June 30

I was awake around 7:30 Sunday morning, the sun was up and the skies were clear. When I arrived in Rothsville before 10:00 there were puddles in both corners on the bench side, we managed to get them cleared and the games started with minimal delay. This was the Grand Finale for the spring season, in the consolation game Township defeated Warwick and for the championship Ephrata won over Hillside. A total of fifty-five players participated including seventeen who hadn't played the previous season and eleven completely new to the league. This was the league's seventh season, Township has won it three times with Ephrata now at two championships, Hillside and Warwick have won once each. Right now we plan to start the fall season on September 8 since Labor Day comes early on the 2nd. When I got back to town I took my car to the service center, it's due for inspection and I have an appointment for Monday morning. I was home and in the house for the day by 1:30 or so, with temperatures in the high 80s there were few places better to be. Later in the afternoon we had some heavy thunderstorms (which had been a concern for the morning hours), all things considered I guess we were fortunate to get the league finished when we did. Take care, thanks for reading.

June 28-29

Friday night at the ballpark, the Stormers continued their homestand with a visit from the Long Island Ducks. Long Island joined the league as an expansion franchise in 2000, they are currently the league's senior franchise. This game started very similarly to the game on Wednesday, the Stormers fell behind early 2-0 and trailed by seven at one point before ultimately losing 8-3. The Stormer runs came in the sixth on a Trace Loehr solo home run and a Chris Proctor two-run inside-the-parker in the seventh, Brady Tedesco (just back from the injured list) started and took the loss. On Saturday night the Stormers scored ten runs in the first four innings and battled the weather as well in a one-sided 14-2 win. Just about everybody in the lineup had a hand in the offence but the night belonged to three players in particular. Justin Farmer had a single, a double, two home runs (one of them a grand slam) and six RBI, Jordan Howard had a single, two round-trippers and four RBI and Damon Dues had four hits including a home run and two runs batted in. Joseph Carpenter accounted for a RBI with a first-inning hit and another run scored on a Long Island error. It rained during the middle innings but not enough to stop play, with one out in the ninth a downpour arrived and ended the game early. Max Green went six innings for the win with Ted Stuka and Steven Nogesek in relief. The series ends on Sunday afternoon but I will be in Rothsville in the morning weather-permitting, keep your fingers crossed. Take care, thanks for reading

June 26-27

Wednesday lunch in Quarryville with Jenny and Helen, in the evening we were back at the ballpark for game #2 with Staten Island. The game on this night started much the same as Tuesday except it was the other way around, by the fifth inning the visiting FerryHawks held a 5-0 lead. Damon Dues' solo home run in the fifth got the Stormers on the board, a two-run single by Justin Farmer in the sixth made it a 5-3 ballgame. The Hawks added a run in the eighth to go up by three but in the ninth the Stormers rallied back. Dues started it with a base hit, he would score on a triple by Jack Conley making it 6-4. Kyle Kasser drew a walk and Shawon Dunston kept the line moving with a base hit scoring Conley and advancing the tying run to third. Trace Loehr followed with a perfect bunt to the first-base side of the mound, the desperation thrown to the plate was late allowing pinch-runner Jordan Howard to score the tying run and move the winning run to third. Joseph Carpenter batted with the infield in and grounded to second base, the throw home was wide with Dunston sliding in head-first with the winning run. Jackson Rees was the pitcher of record in the 7-6 win, Matt Swarmer (recently resigned) went four innings with Nile Ball and newly-acquired Steffon Moore also appearing in relief. The series finished on Thursday with a 5-1 Staten Island victory, the FerryHawks led 3-0 early and never trailed. The Stormers had only four hits on the night, the lone run came in the third when Kyle Kasser walked and scored on Damon Dues' RBI groundout. 2022 playoff hero Oscar De La Cruz made his home debut and took the loss with Carsie Walker in relief. The announced crowd of 8,636 was the largest in franchise history, the homestand continues with Long Island visiting for the weekend. Take care, thanks for reading. 

June 24-25

The last full week of June began with a night of softball in Willow Street, Peach Bottom played a doubleheader and won over Kelly's and the Silver Bullets. Tuesday marked the start of a homestand on North Prince Street, the Staten Island FerryHawks visited for the first of five occasions. The Stormers have been maddingly inconsistent thus far, they started 10-18 before winning fifteen straight and then dropping nine of ten. On this night there was never much doubt from the get-go, the ballclub led 5-0 after two innings and won the game handily. Joseph Carpenter's RBI single in the first got it started, in the second the lead grew to five on Shawon Dunston's three-run home run and and an RBI double by Carpenter. The visiting FerryHawks scored twice in the fourth, the Stormers got them back in the bottom half on Carpenter's two-run single. In the fifth newcomer Damon Dues (added from the San Francisco Giants organization) went yard to extend the advantage to 8-2, in the sixth Carpenter picked up his fifth RBI on an infield groundout. A four-run eighth inning added the exclamation point, Dunston's second home run was followed by a three-run blast by Justin Farmer. The Hawks scored twice in the ninth bringing the final to 13-4, Noah Bremer went six for the win with Ted Stuka, Philip Diehl and Stephen Nogesek going one each in relief. The series continues through Thursday before Long Island come in for the weekend. Take care, thanks for reading.

June 17-23

It was markedly warmer on Sunday, by Monday morning the blast furnace was open for business. Another week at Garrett Park began with a single game on Monday, Drifters defeated Akatsuki. On Tuesday there was the traditional doubleheader with Drifters over Riverside and Memorial over the Silver Bullets. On Wednesday Jenny was in town at a medical appointment, I took her home and we stopped in Willow Street for lunch (fun fact: our traditional lunch stop is literally catty-corner to Garrett Park, you could walk out the front door of the eatery and be standing at home plate within a few minutes). In the evening the week ended with a straight doubleheader, Kelly's played both games and lost to Peach Bottom and the Silver Bullets. Little happening on Thursday or Friday, as hot as it was I didn't mind sitting at home in the AC. Saturday was a birthday party for Jenny's friend Courtney's daughter, Shania (shuh-NYE-uh) was seven years of age. I've known her practically from birth, hard to believe she's that old already. Sunday was the final day of the league season at Lions Park in Rothsville, Warwick beat Ephrata and Hillside won over Township. We had two dates rained out in May, it was decided that this week would be the only makeups. There would be no games on July 7 for the holiday and Don will be away on the 14th, rather than wait until the 21st for Championship Sunday it will take place on the 30th. Township meets Warwick in the Third Place Game, Ephrata plays Hillside for the Championship.  Take care, thanks for reading.

June 14-16

Back at the ballpark on Friday evening, the Stormers opened a series with the High Point Rockers. High Point was one of two clubs that did not visit in 2023, this was their first appearance at the ballpark since the League Championship Series in 2022. During the road trip the Stormers' winning streak grew to a league-record fifteen games before it was ended the date before this series started, on this night the ballclub suffered a second consecutive defeat. High Point scored two runs in the second inning and made them stand up for a 2-0 win. The Stormers were shut our on five hits and had only six total baserunners. Noah Bremer went seven innings and made only one mistake, Phil Diehl and Stephen Nogesek worked an inning each out of the pen. On Saturday a similar scenario played out as the Rockers scored once in the first and twice in the fourth, the Stormers were shut out until the seventh when Gaige Howard doubled and scored on a Jack Conley groundout. Carsie Walker got the start and went six innings with Ted Stuka (two) and James Hoyt (one) in relief. In recent days the Stormers have lost three players to affiliated ball and several new players have been brought in, how well they mesh with the rest of the group remains to be seen. The visitors from North Carolina completed the sweep with a win on Sunday, in the morning we were in Rothsville for week #7 of the street hockey league at Lions Park. On this day Ephrata defeated Township and Hillside beat Warwick, both games decided by one goal. We play makeup games on the 23rd with Championship Sunday to follow on June 30. Take care, thanks for reading.

June 10-13

A full week of softball at Garrett Park began on Monday, with the Stormers on the road I was able to be present for the duration. On Monday Kelly's played a doubleheader and won over Akatsuki and the Silver Bullets. On Tuesday Drifters played a double-dip and split it, winning over Memorial and losing to Peach Bottom. On Wednesday Jenny, her mother and I had lunch in Quarryville, in the evening Riverside defeated Akatsuki and Peach Bottom won over Memorial. Thursday was a makeup night at Garrett Park, Akatsuki played both games and lost to Peach Bottom and Drifters. The league is past its midpoint with thirty-six of the scheduled sixty-three games in the books, play continues after the weekend on Monday the 17th. Take care, thanks for reading. 

June 5-9

Jenny and Helen were in Strasburg on Wednesday morning, the access van took them in as usual and I took them home As Usual. At the ballpark in the evening the Stormers were all set for game #2 with Hagerstown but Mother Nature had other ideas. It began to rain about an hour before game time and it stayed for most of the night, the game was postponed and immediately rescheduled as a doubleheader on Thursday. The first game started at 4:00, around 3:30 or so it stormed again for about five minutes but then disappeared as quickly as it arrived. In game #1 the Stormers went up 1-0 in the third on a Trace Loehr RBI groundout, in the fourth the visitors from Western Maryland pushed across the tying run before Chad Sedio's two-run home run in the bottom half put the Stormers up 3-1. In the fifth an RBI double by Loehr and Cristian Santana's run-scoring single made it 5-1, after Hagerstown scored a single run in the sixth Jack Conley's two-run double put the Stormers up by five. The Boxcars scored twice the seventh but the Stormers held on for a 7-4 win. In the nightcap (which started at 7:05) it was all Stormers from the word Go, two-run singles from Justin Farmer and Nick Lucky in the second inning made it 4-0. Five runs scored in the fifth on RBI hits by Lucky and Santana plus a Shawon Dunston groundout and two wild pitches to put the Stormers ahead by nine, in the sixth two more crossed the plate on a fielding error and a Santana solo home run. The final was 11-0, in the doubleheader the Stormers used only four pitchers. Max Green won the opener with relief support from Steven Nogesek, Jack Labosky took the decision in the nightcap with newcomer Phil Diehl working the last inning. Since starting 10-18 the Stormers have won ten in a row, they'll try to keep it going on the road with the next home date on the 14th. The weekend was quiet except for Saturday lunch with Jenny and her mother, on Sunday we played street hockey in Rothsville. Warwick beat Township via shootout and Ephrata won over Hillside. Six weeks are in the books and everybody has played everybody else twice (although not in the original order), we'll be back for week #7 on the 16th. Take care, thanks for reading. 

June 3-4

Monday night softball at Garrett Park, Peach Bottom won over Riverside and the Silver Bullets defeated Memorial. On Tuesday the Stormers continued their homestand with a visit from the Hagerstown Flying Boxcars. Hagerstown was in affiliated baseball from 1981 to 2019 in three different leagues, those clubs were known as the "Suns" and played at now-demolished Municipal Stadium. The new club plays its home games at a brand-new stadium in the downtown area, about two miles from where the old ballpark used to be. On this night the Stormers took a first-inning  lead on Joseph Carpenter's two-run double, after Hagerstown got on the board in the second the Stormers went up 3-1 in the bottom half on an RBI hit by Trace Loehr. In the fourth Cristian Santana went yard with two men on base to extend the lead to 6-1 but the Boxcars answered with one in the fifth, one inning later Santana hit his second three-run home run of the night extending the Stormer lead to 9-2. The teams traded single runs in the seventh with the Stormers' marker coming on a Gaige Howard sacrifice fly, one final run for the Boxcars in the ninth brought the final to 10-4. Brady Tedesco (just back from the disabled list) started and went the first two innings, Carsie Walker pitched five for the win with Ted Stuka and Nolan Long each working an inning in relief. The series continues on Wednesday and Thursday. Take care, thanks for reading.

June 1-2

Saturday night at the ballpark for game #2 with Charleston, Jenny and Helen were in the house for the first time since 2022. The weather plays a factor, they didn't make it into any games in '23 because it either rained or was too hot for them and since Helen had her episode in October we need to watch it even closer. On this night they saw a Stormers victory as the ballclub scored the first seven runs and won going away 9-3. Chris Proctor's two-run double in the first put the Stormers ahead, in the second three more crossed the plate on a Cristian Santana two-run single and a RBI hit by Proctor. Back-to-back doubles in the fourth by Trace Loehr and Santana made it 6-0, in the fifth Chad Sedio went yard over the picnic pavilion in right field putting the Stormers up by seven. The Dirty Birds got one back in the sixth, in the bottom half Santana's two-run home run to right-center gave the Stormers a 9-1 lead. Charleston scored single runs in the seventh and eighth innings but it was not enough, Nile Ball pitched six innings of two-hit ball with eight strikeouts for the win with Carter Raffield, Steven Nogosek and Ted Stuka working an inning each in relief.  On Sunday the Stormers completed the sweep but I was not there, we played Sunday morning hockey at Lions Park in Rothsville. This was the fifth week of the season (not counting two rainouts and a holiday weekend), Warwick beat Ephrata and Hillside defeated Township. Take care, thanks for reading.