Baseball Season Ends for Falcons

Hypothetical Question: If you were coaching a varsity high school team (for this example, let's just say it's baseball), and your team is good enough to contend for a title, and you know this fact before the season, would you schedule an out of town trip the day BEFORE the scheduled league semi-final game? If so, it would definitely make you go "hmmmm".
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Quarter-final Playoff Game - Neumann-Goretti 4 - Northeast Catholic 0
Driving to South Philly for the North Catholic/Neumann-Goretti quarterfinal playoff game wasn’t so bad, especially since I was coming up from Chester. I arrived during the final warmups for the Falcons. After finding that there was only one open gate in this huge rec center, I headed directly for the “will call” window, as Tim Murphy left a couple of tickets for me. You see, during the season, Murph can’t give away his tickets, but come playoff time, everybody wants to be there. After finding Murph in a second level suite overlooking shallow right field, we settled in to watch the game. Most of the North fans were along the first base line, with the Neumann fans along third base.

Game Summary
There’s not much to say here. If you take away the home 1st, it was a great game, featuring two real good pitchers. But, that first inning was hard to watch. In the top of the inning, we had one runner on first base with two out, and I had just finished telling Murph and his lovely daughter, Erin, that this field was huge and it would be tough to hit one out. On the very next pitch, Ryan Etsell hit one a mile into left field, but it was caught by the Neumann left fielder about 10 feet from the fence. It had to travel about 330 ft (give or take a few feet). Definitely major league distance. In the bottom of the first frame, a mixture of walks (2), errors (2) and hits (3) gave the Saints a 4-0 lead. Neumann pitcher Mark Donato helped himself with a 2 run triple. After that first inning, there were only one or two runners who made it to second base. I didn’t keep a book, but I didn’t count more than 3 hits for the Falcons this entire game. The score after the first was the score at the end, a 4-0 loss and the end of the season.

Did you notice…..
....that just prior to the game, Umpire Pete, who was handling duties at first, suggested to some parents that sitting behind first base may not be a good idea (safety reasons). So, the fans moved up the line a bit, and Umpire Pete even helped one fan, who was using crutches, by carrying that fans chair to a more safe position. Gotta love that.
…..In the middle of the game, a CSX locomotive bounded up the track that runs up the 26th Street viaduct. The engineer decided to stop just above the cage and watch for about an inning. Someone in the Murph section mentioned that it might be LaSalle scouts, as the train was Blue and Gold. Thought that was kind of funny.
…..That’s the field at 26th and Moore was in excellent condition, with fresh sod and a well groomed field. The last time I was at that location, I was filming a football scrimmage between Neumann and Furness and the field wasn’t what you’d call a well groomed field.
…..that as I mentioned above, there was only one open gate into this field. I’m guessing they don’t like to open too many gates, so they only have one to lock up at night to keep the natives out who may chew up the nice turf.
…..the fly ball in about the third inning that drifted toward the goal post up the line, which is about 20 feet in foul territory. There was a guy with a camera on a tripod, who moved just in time not to get hit, but not quick enough for the Neumann left fielder who had a shot at catching it, but didn’t want to get tangled up with the cameraman.
…..that after the game, some Neumann-Goretti players stopped by a pizza shop on Packer Ave. Just as Murph, Erin and I were finishing up dinner, three players, along with a coach, were just showing up for some victory pizza. Thanks for dinner, Murph.

Faces in the Crowd…
...Of course, Superfan, Tim Murphy ’71, along with his lovely daughter, Erin, were in the regular Murph section up the right field line. Murph has a job where his contract states that he gets off, with pay, whenever North plays. What a job!
…..Able to secure some seats in the same section were Ed Glackin, who had the night off due to the Phillies being in Cinncinati. It’s always a pleasure sitting with one of my favorite football parents. By the way, you can usually find Ed at North sporting events throughout the year. He’s a real fan of NC.
.....Stopping by to chat with Murph was former multi-sport All Catholic, Mike Morrin ’75, who talked baseball with Murph and football with me.
….First spotted in the left field bleachers and then behind first base was NC hall of famer, Larry Conti.
….Showing up during the game and having trouble finding a gate to get into the game was NC Athletic Director and Director of Institutional Advance, Tom Kaiser. Tom wears out a lot of tires and shoe leather by beating the path to promote the school. Glad to see him.
….Chatting it up with one of our staffers before (and after) the game was Tom Schweizer (I have no idea how to spell Tom’s name). Tom didn’t graduate from North, but spent a couple of years there and loves the Falcons as much as any graduate. He’s a good man.
….NC JV manager, and father of right fielder, Freddy DiMascia, Al DiMascia, former All Catholic NC quarterback was in the house. He could be heard asking how someone can get tickets in the Murph section. Hey Al, those tickets are free. It’s not how much money you have, it’s who you know. But, Murph has so many friends and there are only so many tickets to go around. Maybe next year.

Final baseball thoughts
I know I’ve been a little critical about the uniforms this year. I just want to make it clear that it has all been in fun. Next season, I won’t mention it one time…..well, that’s if we actually look like North Catholic while on the field. And, please, lose the white hats.

Seriously though, I probably attended more games in one season this year than I have in a lot of years. This was mainly due to my co-operating work schedule. I have to say that I was entertained all season long. The varsity players on the field represented the school well while at game, they played hard, and the came together as a team. There were high points, there were low points and there were times when I scratched my head and said, “Huh?” But, in the end, I saw another season of my Falcons make it into the post season, and they did so with only two seniors in the starting lineup. I will wait in optimistic anticipation for the 2010 season. But, in the meantime, the end of baseball season means only one thing……..It’s now football season. Can you feel it?

Have a great summer and check back from time to time for some random updates over the summer. Thank you and have a great summer and we’ll see you in the fall.

Epilogue