Forest City pulled off one victory in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class A baseball tournament before losing and having its season end.
The Foresters gave Susquehanna County a state quarterfinalist for the second straight year, following up the effort of Blue Ridge, the team they played in a tense district final matchups the last two years.
Forest City hit the road twice, winning, 4-2, over District 4 champion Millville at Williamsport’s Bowman Field June 6 before falling to District 5 runner-up Meyersdale, 10-3, Thursday at Bald Eagle Area High School in Wingate.
Just as Blue Ridge did in 2015, Forest City produced a state tournament win as District 2 baseball champion for the first time in school history.
Tyler Clift produced the game-winning hit and Mitchell Blake threw a complete game in the win over Millville.
The game was tied, 2-2, in the top of the sixth inning when Clift’s at-bat was interrupted when the sprinkler system came on, causing the game to be delayed.
Clift waited out the delay and came up with the single that broke the tie.
Blake used back-to-back strikeouts to get out of trouble in the bottom of the inning.
R.J. Kuruts singled in the seventh inning and eventually added an insurance run on a passed ball.
Eric Paulin’s RBI single in the top of the second allowed Forest City to score the first run.
Millville tied the game in the bottom of the inning and took a 2-1 lead in the fifth.
The Foresters scored twice in the sixth and once in the seventh to pull out the win.
Riley Christner hit for the cycle and winning pitcher Bryce Kretchman drove in three runs to lead Meyersdale into the state semifinals.
Christner scored three runs and drove in four. He hit a three-run homer in the fifth inning when the Raiders stretched a 2-0 lead to 7-0. He was 4-for-4 with a walk.
Kuruts and Dylan O’Dell each had two hits for Forest City.
The Foresters scored once in the bottom of the sixth. They added two runs in the bottom of the seventh after Meyersdale added its final three runs in the top of the inning.
Blake doubled to score O’Dell in the sixth and break the shutout.
WEEK IN REVIEW
The Pittsburgh Penguins claimed the Stanley Cup as National Hockey League champions Sunday night with major input from former Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
Coach Mike Sullivan and starting goalie Matt Murray were among those who were in Wilkes-Barre earlier this season.
Pittsburgh won, 3-1, in San Jose Sunday night to beat the Sharks, four games to two, in the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Finals.
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins fell short of a Calder Cup title in the American Hockey League in part because many of their top players were instead contributing to Pittsburgh’s success.
Sullivan coached Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to a 16-2 start, including a team-record, 11-game winning streak.
Murray, the AHL Rookie of the Year and Goaltender of the Year last season, took over in Pittsburgh for the stretch run. He led all Stanley Cup goalies in wins this season while going 15-6-0-2 in the playoffs with a shutout, a 2.08 goals against average and .923 save percentage.
All three goalies Pittsburgh used in the playoffs, including Jeff Zatkoff and Marc-Andre Fleury, have spent time in Wilkes-Barre at some point in their careers.
Bryan Rust, who started the season in Wilkes-Barre, scored both goals in the 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game Seven of the Eastern Conference Finals. He tied for third on the team with six playoff goals.
Conor Sheary followed Sullivan from Wilkes-Barre to Pittsburgh just days after the coaching change. He wound up with four goals and six assists in the Stanley Cup playoffs after moving between the two teams throughout the regular season.
Tom Kuhnhackl played every game and provided two goals and three assists after spending the first half of the season in Wilkes-Barre.
Derek Pouliot and Oskar Sundqvist each played two Stanley Cup games after being with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for much of this season.
Kris Letang, the top scoring defense for the Penguins during the Stanley Cup run, played briefly with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in 2007-08. Brian Dumoulin, the second-leading scorer among defensemen, spent most of the 2014-15 season in northeastern Pennsylvania.
Beau Bennett, who had parts of three seasons in Wilkes-Barre, played in one game.
In baseball, Valley View senior pitcher Max Kranick was selected in the 11th round of the Major League Baseball Draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
With Forest City’s help, District 2 teams went 4-3 in the first two rounds of the state playoffs. North Pocono made it into the semifinals in Class AAA.
In high school softball, District 2 teams went 6-1 in the first two rounds of state play, sending Hazleton Area (Class AAAA), Abington Heights (AAA) and defending champion Holy Redeemer (AA) on to the state semifinals.
THE WEEK AHEAD
The fourth annual Field of Dreams Game was moved from June 5 to Sunday because of rain.
A team of senior all-stars from the Lackawanna League will play a similar team from the Wyoming Valley Conference at PNC Field in Moosic, home of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.
Montrose pitcher Chris Lee, Montrose shortstop Hunter Traver and Mountain View catcher Sam Flannery have been selected for the Lackawanna League team.
TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com or followed on Twitter at @tomjrobinson.
LARSON GETS RAIN-SHORTENED XFINITY RACE
POCONO, Penn.-- Kyle Larson won his fourth career series Xfinity Series race after rain forced NASCAR to call Saturday's 100-lap race after 53 laps.
Kyle Larson, winner of Pocono Xfinty race
The caution flag flew for the fifth time on Lap 52, when a storm cell flooded the entire track. Another shower followed and then a steady rain, forcing NASCAR to shorten the race.
Larson, who was leading at the time, welcomed the downpour.
“I'm happy with it,” Larson said. “Now that the race is over and we got the win, it can clear out so we can race (on Sunday) for the (NASCAR Sprint) Cup race ... I had kept a gap on him (Jones) for about four laps when he was in second.
“The rain was coming, and it was starting to sprinkle on his windshield. We weren't quite to halfway yet (when a race becomes official), so I wasn't really saying much on the radio, but once we did get to halfway, it started coming down a lot harder. We were going to be racing a lot harder in the next lap or half a lap maybe, so I'm happy that it started down pouring when it did.”
Erik Jones was second, followed by Ty Dillon, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Elliott Sadler, Paul Menard, Brandon Jones, Daniel Suarez, and Alex Bowman.
Top-10 leaders after 12 of 33: 1. Suarez-408, 2. Sadler-397, 3. T. Dillon-390, 4. Gaughan-363, 5. E. Jones-359, 6. B. Jones-357, 7. Allgaier-355, 8. Poole-348, 9. Wallace Jr.-308, 10. Reed-274.
KURT BUSCH WINS ON FUEL AT POCONO
POCONO, Penn.--Kurt Busch was able to conserve enough fuel and hold off Dale Earnhardt to win Monday's rain-delayed Sprint Cup race, which was originally scheduled for Sunday.
Kurt Busch Wins at Pocono
Despite not having his regular crew chief, Tony Gibson, who was suspended for a lug nut violation, Busch led 32 laps of the 160-lap race.
With a little over 20 laps left, Busch was told to conserve fuel.
“It’s tough to balance everything,” Busch said in victory lane. “We have a fast car, an interim crew chief ...I didn’t know if we’d have enough fuel. It was a matter of just putting it all together.”
As Busch was conserving fuel, runner-up Dale Earnhardt Jr. thought he might have a chance. But it didn't turn out that way. He put on a hard charge, but finished 1.125-seconds back.
“We finished better than we should have,” Earnhardt Jr. said.
He had complained about a tight car throughout the day, an issue that ended up costing him a chance to run down Busch in the closing laps.
Brad Keselowski's third-place finish was the best of any Ford driver.
Chase Elliott led the most laps (51), but had to settle for fourth.
“I feel like we had a car that could do it today,” said Elliott. “I wish I would have been more patient behind Dale. We had a super fast car ... a car that could lead all day.”
Joey Logano, Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, and Ryan Blaney rounded out the remaining top-10.
Top-10 leaders after 14 of 36: 1. Kevin Harvick-490, 2. Kurt Busch-465, 3. Keselowski-442, 4. Edwards-437, 5. Kyle Busch-416, 6. Johnson-415, 7. Elliott-413, 8. Logano-410, 9. Truex-403, 10. Kenseth-382.
LARSON GETS RAIN-SHORTENED XFINITY RACE
POCONO, Penn.-- Kyle Larson won his fourth career series Xfinity Series race after rain forced NASCAR to call Saturday's 100-lap race after 53 laps.
The caution flag flew for the fifth time on Lap 52, when a storm cell flooded the entire track. Another shower followed and then a steady rain, forcing NASCAR to shorten the race.
Larson, who was leading at the time, welcomed the downpour.
“I'm happy with it,” Larson said. “Now that the race is over and we got the win, it can clear out so we can race (on Sunday) for the (NASCAR Sprint) Cup race ... I had kept a gap on him (Jones) for about four laps when he was in second.
“The rain was coming, and it was starting to sprinkle on his windshield. We weren't quite to halfway yet (when a race becomes official), so I wasn't really saying much on the radio, but once we did get to halfway, it started coming down a lot harder. We were going to be racing a lot harder in the next lap or half a lap maybe, so I'm happy that it started down pouring when it did.”
Erik Jones was second, followed by Ty Dillon, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Elliott Sadler, Paul Menard, Brandon Jones, Daniel Suarez, and Alex Bowman.
Top-10 leaders after 12 of 33: 1. Suarez-408, 2. Sadler-397, 3. T. Dillon-390, 4. Gaughan-363, 5. E. Jones-359, 6. B. Jones-357, 7. Allgaier-355, 8. Poole-348, 9. Wallace Jr.-308, 10. Reed-274.
NASCAR GOING AFTER NEW FANS
After seeing a decline in track attendance and television viewership, NASCAR and their tracks are pulling out all plugs in an effort to reach new fans
The period between 1995 and 2005 was the pinnacle of NASCAR racing, as far as fan attendance was concerned. From that period until today, it has declined a little bit each year.
“You promoted your event and did things to attract crowds and then it got to the point where I think a lot of us were guilty of slacking off because things were going really well,” Clay Campbell of Martinsville Speedway told the Associated Press. “Now we're back in that day where we do things to entice people to come to our events.”
The results have been great for fans who show up to find free concerts and other amenities. But the enthusiasm hasn't led to packed houses. Many tracks have removed sections of grandstands, and they still don't look full on race day, and there has been a drop in television ratings, too. Still, the Coca-Cola 600 was the third-most watched sporting event last weekend.
Some wonder if NASCAR's day in the sun has passed. Track officials instead see a changing, younger an base that needs to be enticed to watch live racing — and spend money.
Dover International Speedway President Mike Tatoian said the trend is not as alarming as one might think.
“I think it's hard to pinpoint one thing that's caused this attendance decline,” Tatoian said. “I don't think it was realistic for everyone to think it was going to continue on that meteoric rise or stay at that level. I always say our level of wellness has just been adjusting.”
General manager Jerry Caldwell of Bristol Motor Speedway said NASCAR crowds may be down but are still huge.
The Tennessee track, which once drew about 150,000 fans to races in the premier series, once had a sellout streak of 55 races. It does not release attendance figures, but was about half full for its Spring race, despite sunny, 72-degree weather.
Caldwell suggested it might be time to stop looking at attendance figures from the pre-recession heyday and remember that other sporting events also struggle with empty seats. He expects Bristol's late race on Saturday night, Aug. 20, to be well attended.
The Martinsville track used to make seats on its backstretch available on race day, and had people camping out overnight to be in line to buy them. Since pit stalls were moved and a garage was built, those seats are no longer of much value and the track drapes the backstretch seating in advertising banners.
“There for a while, crowds were much larger than they are now, but now we can focus on providing the people here a great experience,” Campbell continued. “I think in the long run, it's working out. It's not what we were used to in the late '80s and early '90s, but we're still drawing, and many of those fans are brand new.”
2017 NASCAR HOF INDUCTEES ANNOUNCED
Five new members will be inducted into NASCAR's Hall of Fame in the Spring of 2017. The talents, eras and levels may differ, but all share a common thread by helping shape NASCAR.
They include: Richard Childress, 11-time car owner champion in NASCAR’s three national series; Rick Hendrick, 14-time car owner champion in NASCAR’s three national series; Mark Martin, 96-time race winner in NASCAR national series competition; Raymond Parks, NASCAR’s first champion car owner, and Benny Parsons, 1973 NASCAR premier series champion
Weekend Racing: The Trucks will race at the 1.5-mile Texas Motor speedway, while the Cup and Xfinity teams will be at the 2.0-mile Michigan International Speedway.
Fri., June 10, Truck Series race 7 of 23; Starting time: 9 pm ET; TV: Foxsports1.
Sat., June 11, Xfinity Series race 13 of 33; Starting time: 1:30 pm ET; TV: Foxsports1.
Sun., June 12, Sprint Cup race 15 of 36; Starting time: 1 pm ET; TV: Foxsports1.
Racing Trivia Question: The Wood Brothers team won the first NASCAR race held at Michigan in 1969. Who was the driver?
Last Week's Question? What year did Bobby Allison win the NASCAR championship? Answer. It was 1983.
You may contact the Racing Reporter by e-mail at: hodges@race500.com
