Brantford Red Sox aim for their first home victory

By Jesse Ferguson, 4BRANT

On Sunday June 3rd, a busy day of baseball filled Cockshutt Park. For ascending ballplayers, there was a hardball tournament going on all three of the smaller diamonds.

Also, the Brantford Red Sox were playing a game at the bigger Arnold Anderson Stadium, trying to win their second game of the 2018 campaign. While they won Thursday in Burlington, the Sox were eyeing their first home victory. They would face the 5-2 Barrie Baycats.

Murray Medlar of Brantford, an older gentleman,was parking his vehicle in a spot just outside the Stadium. Medlar was meeting his group Men In Action at the game.

“I’m not worried about my car getting hit by foul balls,” he told me despite parking very close to the Stadium. “I got insurance” he smiled.

“Now, here’s the thing,” Medlar continued. “I’m in a dilemma,” said the man in a concerned tone. “If I bring my umbrella, it won’t rain but I’ll have to carry it around. If I don’t bring it, it will rain,” he rationed. “Ever notice that?”

“The irony,” I offered.

For everyone today, I told him to bring the umbrella with him so as to possibly save precipitation, which had been looming all day and for the previous few. Blind Melon was not playing from the Arnold Anderson Stadium P.A. sytsem, but would we have “No Rain” today?

Medlar is attending his first game today. “I want to see” he said before motioning a batter swing and a homerun.

https://www.facebook.com/BrantfordRedSox/photos/a.767734289924532.1073741825.206706139360686/1917386124959337/?type=3

Wayne Marzec, of the Sox organization, whose jobs he said will include announcing for the team in the next few weeks, gestured to the man beside him and pointed out, “Paul (De Pasquale) is the best hotdog cooker in Brantford.”

De Pasquale mans the barbecue outside Arnold Anderson Stadium. Hotdogs and baseball: a quintessential combination for the game of the summer.

In the third inning, Brantford centrefielder Terrell Alliman made a spectacular catch running back towards the fence where the ball kept going “back back back”– alike a Chris Berman homerun derby call– before finally, Alliman stuck his glove out at the fence to reel it in.

That play kept the lead for Barrie at just two.

Alliman was at it again in the next half-inning. He struck his second hit of the game, advanced to third on David Mendham’s hit before x`eventually scored Brantford’s first run of the game.

Mendham also scored on Wilson Soriano’s single.

Then, as Soriano broke to second on a steal, it brought the shortstop to cover second base. Red Sox outfielder Nic Burdett was thrilled with this as his hit was to the left side of the infield. Since the shortstop was covering second, the ball went through for a hit.

Soriano scored on a Nate DeSouza hit to tie the score at three! A mighty inning for Brantford.

In the seventh inning, still knotted at three, a woman in the front row stood up. She was wearing a Josh Donaldson jersey. Donaldson is nicknamed the Bringer of Rain.

And then, perhaps coincidentally or perhaps consequently, the rain started to fall… despite Murray Medlar having brought in his yellow umbrella with him into the Stadium (feature picture).

At first, it was a pleasant little rain but then it picked up. I still thought it to be playable, but the umpires gathered and decided a slight delay would be best to let the rain pass through.

Sue Harris, official scorekeeper for the Red Sox exclaimed, “Every time Barrie comes here it rains! Every time.”

“Even last time we went to Barrie, it was washed out.”

Suddenly, the song on the P.A. switched to CCR: “I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain?”

And we did.

Then, in fact, Blind Melon’s “No Rain” did play from their speakers, oddly enough. But by now, at this time, this was just an aspiration. Too late!, I thought. The rain then picked up and the umpires opted to call the game.

The rain didn’t “pass.”

Medlar just had to bring his umbrella, didn’t he!?

The game was far enough in that the win would be awarded to the squad leading, but the game was tied. So what this all means is that the game will resume from where they left off the next time the teams get together before the next game they play.

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I guess the bright side of today is that it’s the first home game for the Red Sox that they played which didn’t end in a loss.

Despite the earlier-pointed-out ironies from Medlar not playing out like he figured, he laughed last as 1) he avoided getting wet, 2) his vehicle didn’t get dented by a foul ball, 3) he had his meeting for his group, 4) he saw a homerun (albeit by the visiting team), and 4) he parked close enough that he could beat the traffic to leave Cockshutt Park fast.

Photos from the game can be found here, thanks to Crystal Young Photography.

The next home game, which Brantford tries to break the skid, takes place on Friday (June 8) against the 6-3 Kitchener Panthers. That is the start of three straight games for the Sox as they play about 14 hours later in Burlington. They also play 21 hours later after that, on Sunday at 2PM, which is a week before Fathers’ Day when they host London.