August 29-31

Friday night football in Rossmere, the LCHS Crusaders hosted Delone Catholic (from McSherrystown, York County). The AD at Catholic is a former assistant football coach at McCaskey, with JPM playing there at least for the present he asked if I could work his games as well. On this night the Crusaders had it all their own way in a 47-20 victory. J.J. Boas threw for three scores, one each to Chris Baumler, Colton Hegener and Brandon Way (trivia: Brandon's father is an assistant coach at LC and a former McCaskey player from the early 2000s). Hegener also ran for a score and Way added three more on two rushes and a punt return. Will O'Malley was 4-5 in the PAT department, Simon Wickenheiser converted his lone attempt. The Crusaders are back home vs Columbia on September 12. On Saturday morning we were back at Rossmere bright and early, the Red Tornado hosted Conestoga Valley at 10:00 (the stadium at McCaskey never had lights until 1999, before then we played our home games at 10:30 and I wasn't wild about those either). On this day the opponent had it all THEIR own way, JPM lost 35-6. The lone score came on a six-yard TD toss from Liam Stinchfield to Quinnes Jones-Hawkins. The club next plays at "home" on October 4 with a somewhat more sensible 4:00 kickoff. In the evening at the ballpark the Stormers continued a weekend series with the Staten Island FerryHawks. The ballclub won the opener on Friday, on this night they won going away 15-4. The onslaught started on the second on a Danny Amaral triple, a Nick Ward single and Alex Isola's RBI groundout, a wild pitch scored the fourth run one inning later. A two-run double by returning fan favorite Melvin Mercedes in the fourth scored runs #5 and 6, back-to-back home runs by Joe Campagna and Nick Lucky put the Stormers up 8-1. Newcomer Luis Castro went yard in the sixth, in the seventh Campagna's two-run single and Lucky's wo-run triple made it 13-4. Ward's two-run home run in the eighth ended the scoring, Matt Swarmer (just back from a lengthy IL stint) was the winning pitcher. The busy weekend ended at the ballpark on Sunday afternoon, friend and colleague John Witwer was away at a family function and I sat in on the PA. The Stormers finished the sweep with a 5-1 win, the runs scoring on a Nick Ward two-run home run, a Joe Campagna RBI single and Danny Amaral's two-run triple. Noah Skirrow started and went five innings for the decision. Take care, thanks for reading. 

August 22-28

When I was in school (way back about a million years ago) the new year didn't start until the day after Labor Day and sporting events didn't start until the following weekend. The School District Of Lancaster was back in session on Wednesday the 20th, Friday was the first date of the new football season. The stadium at McCaskey is undergoing extensive renovations that will include a turf playing surface, as a result our good friends at Lancaster Catholic have made their facilities available for game nights. The program also has a new head coach, former JPM assistant Todd Mealy is the new man in charge. It's been a long time since the program has been relevant, Coach Mealy has previous head-coaching experience and been successful so maybe it's just a matter of giving it time. The club only won two games in 2024 and a lot was lost to graduation, on this night in Rossmere John Bartram visited from Philadelphia. This was One Ugly Game, the teams combined for 540 yards of offense but gave back 315 of it on thirty-eight total penalties. Bartram was up 20-0 in the closing moments before JPM broke the shutout on a one-yard TD carry by Quinnes Jones-Hawkins, the extra point failed bringing the final to 20-6. The club was supposed to have six home games (after hosting just four in '24) but two of them were switched because of seating concerns, the 2000-seat capacity at Crusader Stadium is about one-third of what we could accommodate at McCaskey. With it all the boys play next at LCHS on the 30th (a 10:00 kickoff vs Conestoga Valley) before a four-game road trip in September. The rest of the weekend and the following week was largely uneventful, all the better for me to recharge the internal batteries before what should be a full weekend of activity, Take care, thanks for reading. 

August 18-21

A quiet Monday set the stage for a tumultuous mid-week. On Tuesday I was expected at the local hospital at 8:50, at 7:40 they called and said they were ahead of schedule and I could come in earlier if I chose to. I was there within a half-hour, around 9:30 or so they took me into the OR for the placement of the chemotherapy port. I required a ride home and arranged for Don to help out, I was home by 12:30 and went directly to the recliner to sleep off the rest of the anesthesia. On Wednesday I had the first round of treatment at the health campus, it took about four hours to complete. They hooked me up to a portable pump about the size of a transistor radio which I must stay attached to and carry around until Friday morning, a nurse will be here to remove it until my next treatment when the process is repeated. That next session is on September 3 so it's two days with the pump and twelve without until the entire treatment is completed sometime in January. On Thursday I had lunch with Jenny carrying the pump in a blue pouch they provided, it's a pain in the a$$ but it has to be done. The Stormers were at home during the week but I was absent from all three games, Tuesday because I was recovering for the operation and the next two nights because of the "iffy" weather forecast. The ballclub is away until Labor Day Weekend when Staten Island returns. Take care, thanks for reading. 

August 15-17

Friday night at the ballpark, the Staten Island FerryHawks visited for the second time in the month of August. On this night the Stormers took a 1-0 lead in the third on a Mason Martin home run over the picnic tents in right field, in the sixth RBI hits from Joseph Carpenter and Nick Lucky made it 3-0. There were thunderstorms in the forecast, they finally arrived with one out in the ninth and forced a twenty-minute delay before the last two outs were recorded. Tim Brennan (in his last appearance as a professional, he announced his retirement after the game) went six innings for the 3-0 victory with Jackson Rees picking up the save. Saturday was August 16, always a big day on the calendar because it's Jenny's birthday. We marked the occasion with lunch at an Italian-style eatery in Quarryville, later in the day Jenny's friend Courtney took her and her mother to a restaurant in York County for supper. In the evening I was at the ballpark for a game that resembled a football score, the Stormers came out on fire scoring TEN runs in the first inning. The runs came courtesy of RBI hits by Joseph Carpenter, Joe Campagna and Yeison Coca, Kevin Watson's RBI double, a two-run double by Nick Lucky, Alex Isola's RBI triple and a rally-capping three-run home run by Nick Ward. Watson's round-tripper in the second scored run #11, in the third six more were added on a Ward sac fly, bases-loaded walks to Coca and Slater Schield, a Campagna RBI hit and a two-run home run by Carpenter. In the fifth three more came home on Ward's RBI hit, a hit batsman with the bases loaded and a Carpenter sac fly, in the seventh back-to-back doubles by Watson (one RBI) and Campagna (two) brought the Stormers' total to TWENTY-THREE. While all this was going on the FerryHawks were scoring twelve of their own on three two-run innings and a six-run frame but it was nowhere near enough. The Stormer run total ties a franchise record set on Opening Night back in 2022, Michael McAvene won it with relief from A.J. Alexy, Kyle Johnson and newcomers Maceo Campbell and Brenden White, The ballclub completed the sweep on Sunday, I was at home taking it easy in the air-conditioning. Take care, thanks for reading. 

August 11-14

Playoff championships at Garrett Park on Monday and Tuesday. The first round was one-and-done elimination, the semifinals and final were both best-two-of-three. Kelly's and Peach Bottom each dispatched their semifinal opponents in two straight games, the first two games of the championship round were played as a doubleheader on Monday. Kelly's eked out a one-run extra-inning win in the opener before Peach Bottom evened the series with a game #2 victory, in the deciding game on Tuesday Peach Bottom completed the comeback for their fifth consecutive league title. On Wednesday the surgeon was in town, he said my healing and recovery is going beautifully. They are going to do some chemotherapy in the coming weeks, even though I was pronounced cancer-free after the surgery there is always the chance of something microscopic sneaking through that could be a problem. As a famous television character of years past was fond of saying, the idea is to Nip It In The Bud. There were thunderstorms in the forecast on both Wednesday and Thursday, it's a good thing softball season is over because they would have never played either evening. Take care, thanks for reading.

August 6-10

Wednesday lunch with Jenny and her mother, in the evening we were back at the ballpark for game #2 with Hagerstown. The Stormers spotted the visitors a 1-0 third-inning lead before scoring three in the fourth on a two-run double from Nick Lucky and Evan Alexander's RBI single. That advantage held until the bottom of the eighth when "Lucky #7" (a reference to his jersey number) went yard with a man on to make it 5-1. On the mound Noah Bremer pitched seven innings of four-hit ball with eleven strikeouts for the win, Jackson Rees and Scott Engler finished it in relief. On Thursday in the rubber game the Boxcars again scored the game's first run and for a second straight night it would be the only one they would get. The Stormers tied it in the third and took a 2-1 lead in the fourth with both runs scoring courtesy of Nick Ward, an RBI groundout in the third and a sac fly in the fourth. In the eighth the Stormers added some valuable insurance on Yeison Coca's two-run double. In the ninth Cody Stashak closed out the 4-1 win, Tim Brennan started and earned the decision. The ballclub returns home on Friday the 15th. The weekend was very quiet and uneventful (not necessarily a bad thing given my recent circumstances), with the spring hockey season (finally) over I did little save for Saturday lunch in Quarryville. Take care, thanks for reading.

August 4-5

Playoffs began on Monday night at Garrett Park, in quarterfinal action Akatsuki eliminated Lancaster and the Silver Bullets ousted Memorial. The winners move on to the semifinals versus Kelly's and Peach Bottom, the semifinals are a best 2-of-3. Tuesday night at the ballpark, the Hagerstown Flying Boxcars were in town for their final series in 2025. The Boxcars have the worst record in the league by far but you'd never know it, for some reason they give the Stormers a battle night in and night out. On this evening Hagerstown took a 1-0 lead in the second, the Stormers matched it in the bottom half on a sacrifice fly by newly-acquired Kevin Watson Jr. The Boxcars led 4-1 in the fourth before Joseph Carpenter went yard with the bases empty, after the Boxcars went up 5-2 in the fifth the Stormers tied it on Nick Ward's RBI double and a two-run shot onto the picnic tents in right field by Mason Martin. The pesky Boxcars went back ahead 7-5 in the sixth and added two more in the eighth, the Stormers scored single runs in the seventh and eighth on sac flies by Martin and Alex Isola. The final was 9-7, Michael McAvene started and took the loss. Take care, thanks for reading. 

August 1-3

The new month began on Friday with the Staten Island FerryHawks on North Prince Street for the opener of a three-game set. This was one of those up-and-down back-and-forth kind of games the Atlantic League is so well-known for. Alex Isola's two-run single in the second gave the Stormers an early lead but the Hawks rebounded with five runs over the next four innings to lead 5-2 in the sixth. Isola came through again with an RBI hit but SI matched it in the seventh, in the bottom half the Stormers took advantage of a Hawk error and Nick Lucky's RBI single to pull within 6-5, In the ninth the visitors scored an insurance run, it proved to be the difference when Mason Martin hit a solo shot in the bottom half but the rally went no further. The final was 7-6, Tim Brennan (back from a stint on the IL) made his first start since mid-May and suffered the loss. On Saturday night in game #2 it was Staten Island virtually from the word GO, the Hawks scored three runs in the first and were never headed in an 11-2 decision. The Stormer runs scored on RBI hits by Joseph Carpenter in the third and Mason Martin in the fourth, Max Green started and was pitcher of record. The Stormers won the third game on Sunday but I was in Rothsville for the Grand Finale of the spring street hockey season. This was the ninth championship season we've played since we started there in 2021 and it was undoubtedly the most challenging. It seems like we have weather difficulties every season (that goes with the territory) but this was a whole different story. We had planned on starting on April 13, that was delayed for five weeks while we awaited new netting for the goals. We had three games postponed and ultimately cancelled which reduced the season to six games and of course my surgery and recovery further hampered the effort. With it all we ended five weeks later than in the spring of '24 and we're probably lucky it was that good. Warwick beat Hillside in the consolation game, in the championship Ephrata won over Township. Ephrata and Township have each won three titles, Warwick has two and Hillside has one. Forty-three of the league's fifty players qualified for the postseason, thirty-six were present. The off-season won't last long, we're back for the autumn season on the Sunday after Labor Day, Take care, thanks for reading.