MOOSIC – District 2 of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association will return its baseball championships to a professional setting this season with four games scheduled for Memorial Day, May 27, at the rebuilt PNC Field.
District 2 conducted many of its championship games, particularly in baseball, at the original Lackawanna County Stadium when the multipurpose facility first opened. The stadium was eventually renamed PNC Field.
After being closed in 2012, PNC Field reopened earlier this month following a $43-million reconstruction.
High school games have already returned to PNC Field when available this spring. The field also serves as the home of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, the Class AAA affiliate of the New York Yankees.
“On behalf of the PIAA District 2 committee and our member high schools, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Rob Crain, Jeremy Ruby, the RailRiders and the New York Yankees organization for their efforts and time in permitting our member schools to utilize this magnificent stadium,” District 2 chairman Frank Majikes said in a press release. “We are extremely grateful and it will be a great experience for our coaches, student-athletes and fans on Memorial Day.”
Ruby, the executive vice president of operations for the RailRiders, played in a District 2 championship game while at Valley View.
“We could not be more excited to see the best high school baseball in our area decide its champions right here at PNC Field,” Ruby said. “Events like these are why we work in sports.”
Ruby said the RailRiders are continuing to expand their community involvement.
District 2 includes the six school districts in Susquehanna County.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Jeff Zatkoff and Brad Thiessen of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins received the Harry “Hap” Holmes Memorial Award. The award goes to goalies who played 25 or more games for the team that allows the fewest goals in the American Hockey League.
The Penguins (42-30-2-2) made the playoffs for the 11th straight season with the help of allowing a league-low 178 goals. They led the league in fewest goals allowed for the second time in three seasons.
Zatkoff went 26-20-0 with five shutouts and a league-best 1.93 goals against average, along with a .920 save percentage. Thiessen, who won the award in 2010-11, was 16-12-2 with four shutouts, a 2.68 GAA and a .902 save percentage.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton finished third in the AHL’s Eastern Division, eight points behind the second-place Binghamton Senators.
The Senators went 44-24-1-7 to finish with the second-highest win total in the 30-team league.
In high school softball, Montrose finished the week as one of two Lackawanna League Division 4 unbeatens.
The defending champion Lady Meteors are 3-0, one-half game behind Lackawanna Trail.
COLLEGE CORNER
Sarah Kimsey finished seventh in the high jump Saturday by clearing 1.48 meters (4-10 ¼) while representing Kutztown University at the Princeton Invitational.
The junior from Montrose cleared 1.60 while finishing seventh at the Fred Hardy Invitational March 29 and was tied for second with a height of 1.58 meters at the Muhlenberg Invitational.
THE WEEK AHEAD
The two closest professional hockey teams to Susquehanna County will renew their rivalry in the first round of the AHL’s Calder Cup Playoffs when the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Binghamton Senators square off for a best-of-five series.
The series opens in Binghamton with games Saturday at 7:05 and Sunday at 5:05.
Game Three is scheduled for May 2 in Wilkes-Barre. Game Four, if necessary, is May 4 in Wilkes-Barre. If a fifth game is needed, it will be May 6 in Binghamton.
In high school track and field, Montrose and Blue Ridge were unbeaten in both boys’ and girls’ competition heading into this week.
They are scheduled to meet Monday, April 29 at Montrose in meets that could decide the Lackawanna Track Conference Division 4 titles.
The Jordan Relays are scheduled for Tuesday, April 30 at Scranton Memorial Stadium.
TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com.
KENSETH GETS SECOND WIN
Matt Kenseth wins at Kansas. Furnished by NASCAR
KANSAS CITY, Kan.—Matt Kenseth got his second Cup win of the season, as he held off a hard-charging Kasey Kahne.
Kenseth, the polesitter, led 97 laps of the 267 lap race. He took the lead after a restart on lap 221. At one point he was nearly a second ahead of the rest of the field, but Kahne steadily closed the gap. Kahne gave it his best shot with two laps remaining, but came up short by .015-seconds.
“Man that was some hard racing,” said Kenseth. “I really thought he had me. Our car was incredibly fast, but he seemed to come on strong near the end.”
For Kahne, it was also his second runner-up finish.
“The car handled great all day, but we got a little looser than I expected near the end,” said Kahne. “We fought hard, but came up a little short.”
Jimmie Johnson was third, while Martin Truex and Clint Bowyer rounded out the top-5.
Brad Keselowski overcame a ton of problems to finish sixth. First, he had mechanical problems, then a loose wheel, and finally a fender-bender accident that took off most of the metal from the left rear of his car. His team patched it up with tape, allowing him to finish the race.
Jamie McMurray, Aric Almirola, Mark Martin and Paul Menard were the remaining top-10.
Ricky Stenhouse was leading the race with about forty five laps to go, but poor pit strategy probably cost him a higher finish.
Tony Stewart never got a grip on the handling of his car and finished 21st. His other teammate, Ryan Newman came in 14th, and Danica Patrick was 25th.
Kyle Busch had a terrible day. He spun several times, the first coming during the fifth lap. He skidded around a couple more times until he hit the outside wall during lap 105. After hitting the wall, he slid down the track and Joey Logano smacked into him. Both drivers were done for the day.
Denny Hamlin, regular driver of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11, is out with a back injury, but said there is a 50/50 chance he will be able to start Saturday’s Richmond Cup race.
Top-10 unofficial leaders after 8 of 36: 1. Johnson-311, 2. Keselowski-298, 3. Kahne-274, 4. Biffle-264, 5. Earnhardt-263, 6. Edwards-262, 7. Kyle Busch-257, 8. Kenseth-252, 9. Bowyer-247, 10. Menard-240.
CRAFTON WINS KANSAS TRUCK RACE
Matt Crafton held off Joey Coulter in a 25-lap, green-flag run to the finish to win Saturday's Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway.
“This truck was junk Friday in practice,” Crafton said. “They made so many changes on this thing that turned this race around. We knew we had something to win with about halfway through this race.”
With Coulter on his bumper for the duration, Crafton's crew gave him some good advice.
“They said, 'Just put your head down and just flip your rearview mirror up and dig,'” Crafton said. "That's what we did.”
Ryan Blaney, Brendan Gaughan, Johnny Sauter, James Buescher, Darrell Wallace, Ty Dillon, Ron Hornaday, and Timothy Peters were the remaining top-10 finishers.
Top-10 points leaders after 4 of 22: 1. Sauter-174, 2. Crafton-162, 3. Burton-149, 4. Blaney-141, 5. T. Dillon-135, 6. Buescher-133, 7. Gaughan-128, 8. Wallace-127, 9. Coulter-125, 10. Armstrong-121.
TWO PENSKE TEAMS FINED
As a result of what NASCAR termed violations for unapproved rear end configurations, prior to last week’s race at Texas, the No. 2 and No. 22 Penske teams were hit with heavy fines and penalties.
There had been speculation in the garage area that one of the Hendrick Racing teams had tipped off NASCAR about the possible violations.
Jimmie Johnson met with members of the media at Kansas Speedway, and responded to allegations that his team, or another Hendrick team might have “ratted” on the two Penske Racing teams.
“When you have success on your side of the magnifying glass, the viewpoint for everybody, NASCAR, other teams, it gets a lot more intense,” said Johnson.” The best officiating in the garage area has always been your neighbor. That has just been part of NASCAR for years and years. That is why NASCAR has the procedures in place that they do in the garage area and why even in F1 today they are not allowed to cover their stuff anymore. It's just part of it.
“With all that being said, no, the Hendrick group and the No. 48 team did not rat out the Penske cars.”
As it pertains to the No. 2 car, driven by Brad Keselowski, crew chief Paul Wolfe has been fined $100,000 and suspended from NASCAR until the completion of the next six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship points events (including the non-points Sprint All-Star Race) and placed on probation until Dec. 31.
Car chief Jerry Kelley, team engineer Brian Wilson and team manager Travis Geisler (serves as team manager for both the No. 2 and No. 22 cars) have been suspended until the completion of the next six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship points events (including the non-points Sprint All-Star Race) and placed on probation until Dec. 31.
The loss of 25 driver points and 25 owner points.
As it pertains to the No. 22 car, driven by Joey Logano, the following penalties have been assessed: Crew chief Todd Gordon has been fined $100,000 and suspended from NASCAR until the completion of the next six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship points events (including the non-points Sprint All-Star Race) and placed on probation until Dec. 31.
Car chief Raymond Fox and team engineer Samuel Stanley have been suspended from NASCAR until the completion of the next six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship points events (including the non-points Sprint All-Star Race) and placed on probation until Dec. 31.
The loss of 25 driver points and 25 owner points.
Keselowski refused to talk about the situation.
“I don't think I've been surprised by much of anything the last two or three days, but I think it's really important to let the appeals process work out,” he said. “I'll save those comments for when it works out. I don't want to jeopardize our chance to have a clear appeal.”
No date has been set for the appeals.
Weekend Racing: The Nationwide and Cup teams will have night races at the .75-mile Richmond, Virginia track. The Truck teams do not race again until May 17.
Fri., Apr. 26, Nationwide race 7 of 33, Starting time: 7:30 pm ET; TV: ESPNNEWS.
Sat., Apr. 27, Sprint Cup race 9 of 36, Starting time: 7:30 pm ET; TV: FOX.
Racing Trivia Question: How many Cup races has Joe Nemechek won?
Last Week’s Question: Where is the hometown of Kurt and Kyle Busch? Answer. It is Las Vegas, Nevada.
You may contact the Racing Reporter at hodges@race500.com.
