Gelof brothers snap ‘Wahoowa’ for Virginia in NCAA Regional
Livestreaming - The NCAA college baseball playoffs had me watching three games at one time June 6. I began by tracking Virginia because Zack and Jake Gelof were in the starting lineup versus South Carolina, then I went split screen when Liberty was facing Tennessee because Mason Fluharty and David Erickson are on the Flames’ pitching staff. And I watched all four local boys play baseball on the biggest stage and knew it had never happened before in the same tournament on the same day. Salisbury University baseball advanced to the Division III championship round by beating Cortland State 11-8 by virtue of a four-run ninth inning. Brock Hilligoss of Milford is on the Gulls’ pitching staff. Post Gazette deadline: Monday, June 7, Virginia was set to play Old Dominion for the regional championship and a berth in one of the eight Super Regionals. Liberty was eliminated by Tennessee June 6. Salisbury was set to begin a best-of-three championship final versus the St. Thomas (Minn.) Tommies Monday, June 7, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Over the two combined regional games, the Gelof brothers are 11-for-17 hitting (.647), have scored nine runs, posted five RBIs, slammed three home runs, reached base three times via walks, and struck out only twice.
Destiny’s Child - I used to call the zen master of Cape girls’ lacrosse, P.J. Kesmodel, Destiny’s Child because it was predetermined that good things were going to happen to his teams. Don’t give me that “success-is-where-preparation-meets-opportunity” coach’s manual tripe. Destiny, fate and karma all intersect somewhere, and it’s all predetermined, except all the great philosophers agree, “You can mess it up.”
Therapy dog - While working at my unpaid part-time job as Meineke Car Care human therapy dog, I ran into retired Cape counselor Steve Denver, who wanted to talk about the Cape lacrosse girls winning 12 state championships in a row over the last 13 years. We covered all the obvious reasons, but basically it makes no sense – like Denver replacing 15-year-old tires on his old Jeep. I mean, why now? Can’t you get another five years out of them? The weird lacrosse stat for me is four freshmen started on the Cape championship team of 2021: Lexi Nowakowski, Carrie Clausius, Lulu Rishko and Montana Jones. Talk about a feeder program – bottle or breast – those players were basking in the bassinet as 1-year-olds when seniors Leigh Ann Redefer, Lindsay Shook, Raelynn Grogan, Kara Voss and Hilary Merlo delivered Cape’s first title in 2009.
Blue chair - I line up my blue chair like a helipad before doing a chopper one touchdown. My alighting from the chair with a heavy camera around my neck and no arms for support and often one foot asleep defies the laws of physics, which are rewritten every time I step out the door on assignment. Here’s a suggestion: Don’t talk noise to Blue Chair Man. That detracts in any way from the people “in the game,” whether high school athletes or adults who are walking a 5K on a 95-degree day. There are some lame gamers in the sports shadows that need to tighten up and fly right.
Snippets - Sandhill Fields was rocking in the hot sun June 6 morning, with soccer games and a 5K race. I saw a record number of grandparents with folding chairs and wondered if soccer travel teams win the traveling grandparent contest. I give my buddy Joe Schell major credit for turning Sandhill Fields over for public use, and where else can you get a taco at nine o’clock in the morning? I’m ambivalent about most sports awards and postseason honors, but I mostly lean toward not liking them. I definitely don’t like hearing about how much money a student received in cash and prizes. To me it sounds like a game show. Awards given in someone’s memory are the best, and I’ll take a look at them all in a future column. I honestly remember two girls arguing which one of them most deserved the Unsung Hero Award. And one Spirit Week at Cape, two Miss Congeniality candidates had a hair-pulling stairwell fight over a poster. Say it didn’t happen, but you would be wrong. Gambling applications like DraftKings have partnered with Major League Baseball as advertisers. Pete Rose should immediately be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame – at least he wasn’t recruiting other gambling addicts. Go on now, git!
