September 22-28

The Atlantic League semifinals came to Lancaster on Tuesday evening with the York Revolution leading the best-of-five series two games to none. The Revs won twice at home over the weekend, both were of the comeback variety including a walkoff in game #2. On this night a strong storm blew through during the supper hour, when I arrived at the ballpark at 6:00 it was POURING. I knew every effort would be made to play especially since the ballpark has turf, the rain finally let up and the game began around 8:15. The Stormers got off to a good start, Yeison Coca's two-run single in the second and Joe Campagna's sacrifice fly in the third gave the Home Team a 3-0 lead. In the fourth the Revs began another of their patented comebacks, a solo home run by Kyle Martin was followed by a Chris Williams long ball in the fifth and another by Martin in the sixth to tie the game 3-3. In the eighth the wheels came off the cart for the Stormers, two costly fielding errors and a two-run single by Shayne Fontana gave the Revs a three-run advantage. In the ninth the Stormers loaded the bases with two out but could do no damage, the Revs took the series winning 6-3. Cam Robinson saved it for winner Josh Mollerus, Scott Engler suffered the tough-luck loss. The Revolution faces High Point for the league title, the first two games are in York with the remainder in North Carolina. The rest of the week was relatively empty until Sunday in Rothsville for week #4 at Lions Park. The games on this day were rematches from week #1, Warwick defeated Ephrata via shootout and Hillside won over Township. Take care, thanks for reading. 

September 18-21

Thursday night at the ballpark for the last game of the regular season. Before the game the Stormers announced their annual award winners, reliever Jackson Rees won the club's community service award and Nick Lucky was named via fan vote as the team's MVP. The game itself was about as anticlimactic as they come, Long Island scored five runs in the first two innings and coasted to a 5-1 win. The lone Stormer run scored on a one-out home run by Mason Martin in the ninth, Luke McCullough started and took the loss with relief help from newcomer Brock Bell, Brenden White and Kyle Johnson. The Stormers went 40-23 in the second half to claim the title with an overall mark of 71-55, over in York the Revolution won the first half at 39-24 and finished 74-52 overall (for those who debate the "halves" format Long Island finished second overall in the division at 72-54 but missed the postseason because they didn't win either half). It all sets up a rematch of the 2024 North Division playoff won by the Revs in four games, the first two games of the best-of-three are in York with the last three (or whatever is needed) in Lancaster. On Friday morning the visiting nurse was here to relieve me of my bi-weekly burden, Saturday lunch with Jenny and her mother was followed by Sunday hockey at Lions Park. Three new players joined the fold raising the number to fifty (equaling the spring turnout), all but nine were present as Ephrata beat Township and Warwick won over Hillside. Take care, thanks for reading. 

September 15-17

Tuesday morning at the health campus for lab work, in the evening we were at the ballpark for the final series of the regular season. The Long Island Ducks were the opponent for what was a meaningless series, the Stormers had clinched the second-half division title on Sunday and with it a playoff date with the York Revolution for the second consecutive year. In the Tuesday opener the Stormers never led in an 8-5 loss.  After Melvin Mercedes scored on a wild pitch in the first the club rallied from down 5-1 to tie it in the fifth on a Mercedes sac fly and Sunday hero Quincy Hamilton's three-run home run. The Ducks broke the tie with one in the seventh and two in the eighth, Max Green suffered the loss in relief of Noah Bremer. On Wednesday I had round #3 of chemotherapy and had the The 46-Hour Albatross attached to my chest, in the evening it and me were back at the ballpark for game #2. On this night the Stormers again fell behind 1-0 before Danny Amaral's RBI groundout in the second tied it. LI led 3-1 in the sixth when Joe Campagna went yard to make it 3-2, in the seventh Nick Lucky's two-run shot gave the Stormers a 4-3 lead. The Ducks didn't go away quietly, a two-out run in the ninth made it 4-4 and set the stage for extra innings. In the tenth the Stormers walked it off on Scott Kelly's bases-loaded bloop single to left scoring Mason Martin with the game-winner, Michael McAvene pitched the top of the tenth and took the decision. The lame-duck finale (no pun intended) is on Thursday. Take care, thanks for reading. 

September 13-14

Helen's birthday is on September 15th, on Saturday we celebrated her 88th two days early with lunch at a local Italian-style eatery. In the evening I was at the ballpark, the Stormers were hosting the South Division's Lexington Legends in the middle game of a three-game series. The Stormers lost the opener on Friday, on this night they evened matters with a 6-3 win. It was 1-0 Lexington into the bottom of the fifth when the Stormers scored three runs on Melvin Mercedes' RBI hit and Luis Castro's two-run double. The Legends tied it in the sixth but the Stormers scored single runs in each of their last three at-bats, Joe Campagna went yard in the home sixth, a run scored on a passed ball in the seventh and Kevin Watson iced it with a solo shot in the eighth. Billy Sullivan was the winner in relief of Luke McCullough. On Sunday the Stormers took the series with an 8-7 win and clinched the second-half title in the process, newly-acquired Quincy Hamilton was the hero with a two-run walkoff homer in the tenth inning. I was in Rothsville for week #2 of Sunday hockey at Lions Park, on this day nine new players joined up bringing the total to forty-seven. Hillside defeated Ephrata and Township beat Warwick, we'll be back in Rothsville on the 21st. Take care, thanks for reading. 

September 8-12

A relatively quiet week led into what should be a busy weekend, on Friday evening we were at Rossmere. Lancaster Catholic hosted Columbia in a game that left many fans with their mouths hanging open. Columbia is one of the smallest school districts in the county, they entered this season on an eleven-game losing streak that grew to thirteen before it was finally snapped the week before this game. They came in with about twenty players in uniform to face a Crusader team that was a preseason favorite within the division. When the smoke cleared and the carnage was complete the final score read Columbia 43, LCHS 0. The Crusaders were held to two first downs and thirty-three totals yards of offense while on their side Columbia did just about anything they wanted. It's safe to say nobody had this result on their bingo card and if they did they won the mint. For me the next game is not until October 3, the Crusaders are at home that night and McCaskey plays at Rossmere the following afternoon. Take care, thanks for reading.

September 5-7

The visiting nurse was here at 11:30 on Friday morning to relieve me of the blue pouch, after a quick shower (which I hadn't had since Tuesday) I was at the health campus for a follow-up injection which is part of the procedure. When this all started they told me I could have the visiting nurse give me the injection or I could come to the health campus and get it there. If I elected to get it at home it would cost two thousand dollars a pop, the health campus could do it for a fraction of that cost. Since I only live six miles from the campus and I'm not exactly made of money what choice do you think I made (and besides, how can anybody justify charging that amount of money for an injection, give me the d@mn needle and I'll give it to myself). The weekend itself was very quiet save for Saturday lunch with Jenny and Sunday hockey in Rothsville. It rained overnight into Sunday but by morning the rain was gone, there were a few small puddles on the rink surface but nothing that was going to stop us otherwise. In 2024 we had ten weeks off between the spring and fall seasons, this time around we had only five weeks off for reasons that have been exceptionally well-documented. This was virtually a picture-perfect day for hockey, there was a good breeze with low humidity and just enough of a cloud cover to keep everybody comfortable. Thirty-eight players appeared on Opening Day including three who didn't participate in the spring league, Hillside beat Township and Ephrata downed Warwick. The league continues on the 14th, the regular schedule ends on November 2nd. Take care, thanks for reading.

September 3-4

At the health campus on Wednesday for the second of twelve rounds of chemo, they hooked up the pump at 1:30 which means it should come off at 11:30 on Friday morning. At the ballpark in the evening for game #2 of the most recent version of The War Of The Roses, on this night the game resembled "Home Run Derby", all we needed was the late Mark Scott from the vintage 1960 TV series to serve as emcee. The Revolution scored four times in the first on two-run home runs by Ryan Higgins and Chris Williams, the Stormers replied with five in the bottom half on Nick Ward's two-run homer and a three-run shot from Nick Lucky. Higgins' sac fly in the second tied the game 5-5 before a Mason Martin single restored the Stormers' one-run lead. In the visiting third Miles Simington went yard to tie the game at 6-up, Jeremy Arocho's sac fly in the fourth put the Revs ahead for good 7-6. Shayne Fontana's two-run in the seventh ended the scoring as the Revs took it 9-6. It was a bullpen game for both sides (neither starter made it out of the second inning), each team used six relievers with Nick Bennett earning the win and Max Green taking the loss. Had lunch with Jenny and her mother on Thursday with the chemo pouch in tow, later in the afternoon it began to rain. At the ballpark the game went on as scheduled but I elected to stay in, had it been just me I may have tried it but lugging the blue pouch around in lousy weather just didn't appeal to me. The Revs won the game to complete the sweep, the Stormers come back home on the 12th for the final homestand of the season. Take care, thanks for reading. 

September 1-2

September began with Labor Day aka The Last Day Of Summer, the following day I was at the health campus. It's an alternating-weeks lather-rinse-repeat deal: on Tuesday I get blood work done, Wednesday is the chemo treatment and the chemo pump is attached to the port in my upper right chest, forty-six hours later on Friday the pump is removed by a visiting nurse. In the evening we were back at the ballpark, the Stormers hosted their Old Friends from Across The River. The York Revolution was visiting for the first time since June, this was their third and final series in Lancaster (the only divisional opponent not to visit four times). On this night the Stormers jumped on top in the first on a Mason Martin RBI hit, in the third a solo home run from Brandon Lewis and Jeremy Arocho's RBI single put the Revs up 2-1. The Stormers tied it 2-2 in the bottom half on another RBI hit by Martin but from there the game was all Revs emphatically and without question. Solo home runs from Ryan Higgins in the fourth and Caleb McNeely in the fifth were followed by a Shayne Fontana RBI single in the sixth, another Higgins RBI hit in the seventh made it 6-2. William Simoneit's two-run homer in the eighth and a solo shot by Arocho in the ninth put away a 9-2 Rev win, Jimmy Burnette got the decision in relief of starter Braden Scott with Luke McCullough taking the loss for the Stormers. The series continues on Wednesday and Thursday. Take care, thanks for reading.