My Personal Blog

In the ten years I have been podcasting church softball games, I have seen so many teams compete for what is now the Chet Cameron Memorial Trophy.  Tonight I want to reveal the origins of those team names. I will start with the current teams.  The team I podcast games for, the Covenant Speed/Power is so named because many of the players can hit for power and are also fast on the base paths, always looking for hits that go for extra bases.  The Family Life Falcons got their name from their roots as First Assembly.  When it comes to the squad from New Wilmington, I thought of the jerseys that the players wear with a halo above a softball and I thought, halo… Angels!  That’s it!  New Wilmington has been the Angels ever since.  The St. Joseph’s squad is called the Pirates dating back to their inaugural season in 2021 because many of the players from that squad were Pittsburgh Pirates fans.  The New Life team is known as the Saints.  The Clenbanon...

Tomorrow is opening night of my tenth season podcasting Covenant softball, and in this entry, I reveal my favorite moment from my years of podcasting softball. It was Super Saturday in 2017.  It was the finale between Covenant and New Life Blue.  Covenant trailed by one heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, needing one run to tie and two to win it all.  And to their advantage, Covenant had the heart of their batting order due up. Jeff Newell started things off and got a bloop single.  That set the stage for then-rookie sensation Corey Sternthal.  On a 2-1 pitch, Corey Sternthal blasted one over the fence in right center field to end the season and win Covenant its first championship. My call of that moment: THAT’S A FLY BALL!  IT’S GOING BACK… THEY’VE DONE IT!  COVENANT HAS DONE IT!  COVENANT IS THE NEW LAWRENCE-MERCER COUNTY CHURCH SOFTBALL LEAGUE CHAMPION!  HOW SWEET IT IS! And with that, I am ready to shine as the new season begin...

As opening night approaches for my tenth season podcasting Covenant softball, I reveal my number two favorite moment from my years of podcasting softball. The year was 2018.  It was opening night at White Chapel Field in New Wilmington between the Covenant Speed/Power and the Bethany Colts.  The doubleheader was the only one played that day.  Eric Bombeck and Matt Durisko combined to baffle the Colts in the doubleheader, not allowing a single run throughout.  It was the first time that Covenant began the season with two shutout victories.

As I reach the homestretch towards my tenth season of podcasting Covenant softball, I reveal my number three favorite moment from my years of podcasting. It was the day before my 30th birthday in 2015, when Covenant hosted the Bethany Colts for a doubleheader at what is now Family Life Stadium.  This was the game where I became an adopted member of the team.  You will recall that this early podcast was one where I used pencil and paper scoresheets to score the games.  I saw for the first time a Covenant player hit a home run, and it was Jeff Newell who hit the home run on the way to a win for Covenant to snap a three game losing skid.

As the countdown to my tenth season of podcasting Covenant softball reaches the homestretch, I reveal my number four favorite moment from my podcasting years. In the 2017 season, at what is now Family Life Stadium, we played the Grace Chapel Blues in a doubleheader.  In one of the games, Matt Durisko hit not one, not two, but three home runs on his way to being named player of the game.  No player on the team up to that point had ever hit three home runs in one single game.

As I close in on my tenth season podcasting Covenant Speed/Power softball, I begin the top five with my number five favorite moment from my podcasting years. The 2020 season was shortened on account of the global Covid pandemic.  However, we were able to have a season and on Super Saturday, the Covenant Speed/Power defeated the Lebanon Raiders in the finale 20-0.  With the final hit, Gray MacKenzie scored the final run to win it.  My call of the moment was: And for the first time since 2011... WE HAVE A DYNASTY!  WE HAVE A DYNASTY!  THE COVENANT SPEED/POWER HAS WON ITS FOURTH CONSECUTIVE LAWRENCE-MERCER COUNTY CHURCH SOFTBALL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP!  HOW SWEET IT IS!  OH, WHAT A PARTY THEY'LL HAVE ON WINDSOR COURT! That latter sentence was the scorn of criticism from officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Health because of the pandemic.  I shot back by saying that if you won a championship would you not have a victory celebration?

As we reach the halfway point of the countdown to my tenth season of podcasting Covenant Speed/Power softball, I reveal my number six favorite moment from Covenant softball. Following a loss in the opening game of a June 12, 2017 doubleheader to New Life Blue, Covenant came back to salvage a split of the dooubleheader with a win.  For a while it looked as if New Life Blue would win the doubleheader, but Matt Durisko and Tyler Allen would not be denied the opportunity to bring the team back in the win column, and they took advantage of the opportunity. Following the split of the doubleheader, in the postgame huddle, I told the team that we still had twelve more games to prove that we could be a championship caliber team.  And for 111 consecutive games that we played from that point on until July 12, 2022, we did not lose another game, which included five consecutive championship finals games.