The Starting Five

We have arrived to the championship round of the Maryland 11-12 State Little League tournament after Conococheague knocked out Northern Calvert 8-4 on Wednesday night at Maugansvile Little League’s Jay W. Stouffer Field.
Two are left standing: Thursday night a 6 Conococheague begins the task of having to defeat Elkton not only once, but again on Friday to claim a state championship, one it last claimed in 2009.
While Elkton has churned out three victories without defeat, Conococheague has won three games in the losers’ bracket following a loss Sunday to Northern Calvert.
On Wednesday, it was a different story with the bats. A four-run first inning boosted the locals and Levi Taylor pitched 5 2/3 innings for the win.
We’ve had fun streaming each and every game of the tournament live on our website and if you’ve tuned in at any time, hope that you’ve enjoyed view and the play-by-play. We’ll be at it again tonight and if necessary, on Friday also.
The tournament itself, under the direction of District Adminstrator Larry Hammond and his crew of game directors, along with Maugansville Little League president Kelly Colbert and his volunteers from within, have done a marvelous job with the state tournament.
They have proven that the choice of Maugansville as a host site was not a mistake.

Beginning Saturday, the Herald-Mail will stream live games from the Maryland 11-12 State Little League tournament from Maugansville.
Even though the heat is likely to be a nuisance, I’ll be there with a microphone providing play-by-play throughout the tournament.
Myself and Herald-Mail sports Editor Mark Keller will be sharing duties throughout the tournament. Mark will do Saturday’s first game at 1 p.m. and I’ll be doing the next two games at 4 and 7 p.m.
Tune into www.herald-mail.com to listen. And if you feel so inclined you can drop me a note on what you thought.
It’s a throwback to some old days of mine when I dabbled in play-by-play and color back in the Cleveland area for several years doing prep sports and some Little League stuff.
So, it should be fun.

If you read my column in Thursday’s Herald-Mail, you’d already know that I disagree with ESPN’s inclusion of Abby Wambach’s goal in Sunday’s Women’s World Cup soccer match.

Dramatic? Yes. Top 10? No way.

So here is my list of the Top 10 Most Dramatic Moments in Sports History, complete with links to video clips. (continue reading…)

Well, just returned to work from vacation. Isn’t it always good to get back to the grind? Uh huh …..
Good golf, good visit with family and friends back in Cleveland.
The only thing that went wrong boiled around my laptop, which decided to crash and become history. Other than that things were good.
Now it’s back to blogging, since I didn’t take the time to do any recently.
Observations while away:
I was impressed by Sharpsburg Little League in the 9-10 tournament, winning six games in six days to reach Tuesday’s final.
I was even more impressed that my Indians nearly took another series sweep from Keller’s Reds, but still ended winning 5 of 6 on the season.
I was totally blown away at how Fausto Carmona, a pitcher for the Indians, could look so clumsy running to first base, falling flat on his face.
I was surprised Nadal and Sharapova each lost at Wimbledon.
But now, it’s back to the grind, uh huh …..
And the first piece of news on Monday?
Bryce Harper being promoted to Double-A Harrisburg by the Nationals. Hope you had a chance to see him while he was in Hagerstown.
We’re racing thru summer.
The 11-12 Little League tournament starts up Wednesday.
I think it’s time to start tracking down fall high school schedules, etc. etc.
Won’t be long until practice begins for fall sports … just around the corner in Maryland and the football season starts here on Sept. 2.