Post game notes Covenant Speed/Power @ New Wilmington Angels 6 August 2020

Post game notes (Covenant Speed/Power):

Abby Ferlin made her debut in the Lawrence-Mercer County Church Softball League on Thursday night.
Jeff Newell returned to the lineup for one night only on his way to Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis.
Joe Patton, Matt Durisko and Corey Sternthal hit their first home runs of the season in the twinbill, while Tyler Allen and Gray MacKenzie both hit their second home runs and Brad Stockdill hit his fourth home run of the season.
The following Covenant Speed/Power players are now eligible for the 2020 tournament on August 22:  Gray MacKenzie, Eric Bombeck, Brad Stockdill, Matt Durisko, Corey Sternthal, Justin Reed, Nate Anthony, Jim Bombeck, Elija Bombeck, Joe Patton, Tyler Allen and Chris Enis.
Game 1's winning pitcher Eric Bombeck pitched three innings of no-hit ball, lowering his earned run average to 1.00 after two games in the circle.  Matt Durisko pitched two shutout innings of relief, lowering his earned run average to 4.67 after three games pitched.
Game 2's winning pitcher Tyler Allen pitched three shutout innings, while Corey Sternthal pitched two innings of relief.

Post game notes (New Wilmington):

New Wilmington did not get their first hit of game one until the fourth inning when Buddy Stuart doubled.  They were limited to just two hits in the game.
The Angels' three runs in game two came off a home run by Rob Garganz.

Next up:

The Covenant Speed/Power square off against New Life in a battle of unbeaten teams on Tuesday night on field one.
The New Wilmington Angels square off against Lebanon on Tuesday night.

Pregame Notes Covenant Speed/Power @ New Wilmington Angels

Site:  Council of Governments Softball Complex field three, West Middlesex, Pennsylvania
Date:  6 August 2020
Time:  Game 1 begins at 1815, game 2 begins 15 minutes following conclusion of game 1
Probables (game 1):  Eric Bombeck (Covenant Speed/Power) v. Bob Excely (New Wilmington)
Probables (game 2):  Tyler Allen (Covenant Speed/Power) v. Bob Excely (New Wilmington)

Notes (series):

The Covenant Speed/Power own a record of 16-3 in the series since 2012.

Notes (Covenant Speed/Power):
The Speed/Power are coming off of a pair of wins over the Covenant Bengals.
Brad Stockdill's third home run of the season came in the second inning against the Covenant Bengals last Thursday night.
Tyler Allen and Tyler Fattmann hit their first home runs of the season last Thursday.
The two wins extended the Speed/Power's consecutive game winning streak to 8 dating back to the 2019 tournament.
All players on the Speed/Power roster except for Brad Stockdill (attending modified pitch softball national invitational tournament in Hampton Roads) and Abby Ferlin will be eligible for the tournament if they are present for just one game of the twinbill.

Notes (New Wilmington):
The Angels are coming off of a pair of heartbreaking losses to New Life by a combined three runs.
The Angels led New Life in the third inning 8-4 in game two only to see New Life tie the game at 8 until the sixth inning when New Life took the lead for good with 4 runs and New Wilmington could not score 4 in the seventh.

Postgame Notes Covenant Speed/Power v. Covenant Bengals 30 July 2020

Final score (game 1): Covenant Speed/Power 21, Covenant Bengals 3 Final score (game 2): Covenant Speed/Power 7, Covenant Bengals 0 (Covenant Bengals forfeited game) Covenant Speed/Power notes: Matt Durisko got his first two hits of the season after starting 0 for 6. Nate Anthony hit his third home run of the season in the third inning. Tyler Allen's solo home run in the second inning was his 22nd since joining the Speed/Power in 2017. Allen also pitched two shutout innings to earn the win. The 27 hits by the Speed/Power are the most hits in a game since July 9, 2019 against Lebanon when they got 28 hits in a 19-7 win in Wheatland. Covenant Bengals notes: Losing pitcher David Dalessandro left the game in the third inning after taking a Brad Stockdill line drive in the forehead. Next up: The Covenant Speed/Power will play the Grace Chapel Blues on field two on Tuesday evening. The Covenant Bengals will face the New Wilmington Angels on Tuesday evening.

Pregame Notes: Covenant Speed/Power v. Covenant Bengals

Site: Council of Governments Softball Complex Field Three, West Middlesex, Pennsylvania Date: 30 July 2020 Time: 1815 (game 1, game 2 begins 15 minutes after end of game 1) Probables (game 1): Eric Bombeck (Covenant Speed/Power) v. Gary Shuttleworth (Covenant Bengals) Probables (game 2): Matt Durisko (Covenant Speed/Power) v. David Dalessandro (Covenant Bengals) Notes (series): The Covenant Speed/Power have a perfect 5-0 record in the series. Notes (Covenant Speed/Power): The Covenant Speed/Power are coming off of a pair of wins over Lebanon. Andrew Campbell previously played for the Covenant Bengals. Notes (Covenant Bengals): The Covenant Bengals are coming off of a pair of humiliating losses to New Life. Eight current Bengals players previously played for the Speed/Power: Derek Work, Ryan Zippie, Sean Zippie, David Dalessandro, Jacob Albright, Tom Phillips, Bob Mariotti and Julie Norris-Eckenrod. All except for Work, Dalessandro and Phillips contributed to the Speed/Power's 2017 championship.

Postgame Notes: Covenant Speed/Power v. Lebanon Raiders 28 July 2020

Final score (game 1):  Covenant Speed/Power 23, Lebanon 4
Final score (game 2):  Covenant Speed/Power 11, Lebanon 0

Game 1 Notes:

Chris Enis made his debut in the Lawrence-Mercer County Church Softball League and got his first career hits and runs scored.
Winning pitcher Eric Bombeck allowed just one run in four innings.
Nate Anthony, Josh Nichols, Noah Nichols and Joe Patton made their debuts for the Covenant Speed/Power. Anthony hit his first home run since 2015 in the top of the second inning.
Brad Stockdill hit a pair of home runs tonight.

Game 2 Notes:

Winning pitcher Tyler Allen scattered just five hits in five shutout innings.
Noah Nichols hit his first home run as a member of the Covenant Speed/Power in the bottom of the second inning.

Next up:  The Covenant Speed/Power will play the Covenant Bengals on Thursday evening on field three at the Council of Governments Softball Complex.

Pregame Notes: Covenant Speed/Power v. Lebanon Raiders

Site:  Council of Governments Softball Complex Field 1, West Middlesex, Pennsylvania
Date:  28 July 2020
Time:  Game 1 begins at 1815, game 2 begins 15 minutes following conclusion of game 1
Probables (game 1):  Eric Bombeck (Covenant Speed/Power) v. Mike Shacklock (Lebanon)
Probables (game 2):  Tyler Allen (Covenant Speed/Power) v. Scott Stuart (Lebanon)

Series notes:

The Covenant Speed/Power own a perfect 12-0 record over Lebanon since 2017.

Covenant Speed/Power notes:

The Covenant Speed/Power are the reigning three time league champions.
Three current Speed/Power players previously played for Lebanon:  Tyler Allen, Nate Anthony and John Metzgar.  All three were part of Lebanon B;s 2015 championship.
Eric Bombeck has a 4.12 earned run average in his last three seasons.
Tyler Allen has a 2.23 earned run average in his last three seasons, including a league record 0.70 earned run average in 2019.

Lebanon Raiders notes:

Scott Stuart was the 2015 league most valuable player.
This is the fourth season as a single squad formed from the 2017 merger of their B and C squads, which last played as separate teams in 2016.

Five things we learned from the 2017 season

The 2017 season has concluded with Covenant being crowned the new champions of the Lawrence-Mercer County Church Softball League.

Here are five things we learned from the memorable 2017 season:

1.  The home run limit rule saved Covenant.  Before the season began, a new rule was put in place limiting teams to hitting three home runs per game (inside the park ones did not count against that restriction).  Every home run hit by one team after three until their opponent hit three of their own was scored as an intentional walk.  Once both teams hit their three home runs, it was one home run at a time per team.  I jokingly referred to the rule as the "New Life Blue rule", because it was meant to provide parity throughout the entire league.  This is one reason why Covenant was crowned the new champions.

2.  Tyler Allen is money when the game is on the line.  In the finals, when New Life Blue went up 10-9 in the top of the fifth inning with one out, Covenant called on Tyler Allen to save the team.  He only allowed two runs the rest of the way in his two and two-thirds innings of relief as Covenant went on to win the championship.  Allen also helped his cause with a solo shot in the bottom of the sixth inning with two outs.

3.  You will be hearing a lot about Corey Sternthal in the future.  Remember when I said that Corey Sternthal was legit?  Well, Corey Sternthal's first at bat against First Assembly in May was a home run, and it was fitting that his last hit of his rookie campaign was a home run to win the championship.  Corey Sternthal is primed to have many seasons in the Lawrence-Mercer County Church Softball League.

4.  Robert Mort's exploits in his rookie season were no fluke.  Robert Mort had an impressive rookie season in 2016, and in 2017, he proved that his exploits were no fluke, as he improved by leaps and bounds in his sophomore campaign.  There is no doubt he will be a key contributor for more championships in the future.

5.  This championship victory was satisfying.  After two near misses in 2015 and 2016, Covenant finally tasted victory in the championship finals in 2017.  My call of Corey Sternthal's walkoff home run to win the championship is one that will never get old.  The walkoff home run itself will also never get old.

These are the five things we learned from the memorable 2017 season for the new champions from Covenant Sharon.