Yonder comes the Gauntlet...

Well, after a nice regular season break after a first half where the Lions only played 3 of 8 scheduled games (thanks to a rain out), the 2nd half begins. The Lions will need to get in two great practices this week, because after a leisurely 2 games in 6 days starting May 4th, the team faces an MLB-like Sunday/Tues/Wed grind to end the regular season.

*** "thanks, schedulers"

This will test both their stamina and pitching rotation, and includes the schedulers' dream scenario - a season finale against Ephiphany (the team tied atop the standings with the Lions). This one could be for the regular season title and a #1 seed in the playoffs! Provided of course, the Lions meet the rigors of the 4 games leading up to it. Is this enough end of regular season drama for everybody?

Meanwhile, the Parish League did miss out on a fun outing this year. They weren't able to come to agreement with the Giants on the game day and ticket prices in order to resume the annual Parish Family Day and Long-Toss Competition at AT&T Park. A real pity as it was so much fun last year and generated a lot of attention for the Parish League and SHB. Hosted and run by Giants PA Announcer Renel Brooks, the on field competition culminated in an awards presentation by Barry Zito:

May 2010 Winners - Barry Zito is a lot bigger in person!

SHB was the big winner last year: of the 3 Stuart Hall entries (Stephen Bird - 5th grade, Jack Hanley - 6th grade, and Stephen Everest - 7th grade), all made the two-man finals and Stephen Bird and Stephen Everest won, with our Stephen E. making the 2 longest tosses of the day for any grade.

This seems like too good an event to miss again, so please drop the league a note (Brian"at"Stableford"dot"com) encouraging every effort be made to make this happen next year. The current 5th, 6th and 7th graders will appreciate it, even if we'll be gone!