East beats Lyons to stay unbeaten; Crandall retrieves balls and sweeps home plate

East beats Lyons to stay unbeaten; Crandall retrieves balls and sweeps home plate

Ball boy David Crandall throwing back foul ball. 4/18/17

Think about this philosophical question.  Could a baseball game be played without a baseball? Of course not.

BALLS

Ball boy David Crandall

Eastr

Democrat and Chronicle, 4/19/17

With that in mind, some of the unsung heroes of any baseball game are the ball boys and girls who retrieve and throw back foul balls to the umpire. Without them — and the unsung fans who also throw back foul balls — there would be no game.

Today, in the opening round of the East Tournament, Waterloo beat Greece Olympia and defending tournament champion East beat Lyons 8-3, with East standing now at 7 – 0.  The consolation and championship games are scheduled for Wednesday at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

david running for ball

David chasing down foul ball.

home plate

David sweeping home plate after the game.

The game would not have run smoothly — if at all — if David Crandall, son of East Coach Kyle Crandall was not on the top of his game.  First, David ran down a foul ball that was rolling down a hill, only to deftly throw it over back over the fence.  As if that were not enough, David deftly swept up home plate after the game.

East fans

Ginger Crandall (second right bottom) with lots of East baseball and softball fans.

East waLL

The East wall off of which many a foul ball have bounced.

David is not the only unsung hero.  At the game was also his mother Ginger Crandall.  Ginger says she herself has thrown back many a foul ball that came her way.  She pointed to the East building, claiming she has retrieved balls that have bounced off the wall.  As she said, it’s the retrieving fans who keep the game moving.  I did wonder if Ginger has ever had the urge to keep a stray ball. She said no, as actually she has no sentimental attachments to a simple baseball — but did admit David might like to keep one.

POST AGNE MEETING

Post game meeting

lY9ONS

Post game hand shake as seen from the press box. As usual, East social studies teacher Robert Snyder manned the booth flawlessly.

east kids-page0001

Left photo. Sherica Anderson (left) and Nickaye Coke. Right photo. Sherica with her “boo,” # 8 Jorge Hernandez.

The game brought out many of the same avid East fans we’ve seen all year. Sherica Anderson ’17 and Nickaye Coke ’16 are at every home game. Sherica was there to cheer on her “boo,” # 8 Jorge Hernandez. Boo Hernandez didn’t play today, but Sherica says she was rooting on the team just the same.

Lyons fans

Kendra, Lyon’s ’94 (far right) with her family of fans.

Lyons didn’t win the game, but its fans enjoyed the visit to Rochester which for some is considered the “big city.” By coincidence, one of the Lyon’s fans, Kendra, graduated with East Coach Crandall from Lyons High School in ’94. All game, Kendra’s kid were pestering her to make the trip to the big city even bigger by having dinner at Sticky Lips across the way on Culver Road.

STICKY LIPS

Kendra’s kids wanted to go to Sticky Lips before heading home to Lyons.

jOHN cARLOS

Left fielder John Carlos. John expects the championship game on Wednesday against Waterloo to be closely contested. 6:12 p.m 4/18/17

The last player to leave was leftfielder John Carlos who was picked up by his ride outside the front of the school at 6:12 p.m.

OTHER 2017 GAMES

No longer undefeated, East bounces back nicely

Bundled up loyalists at Cobb’s Hill watch East stay undefeated.

Joel Alicea throws second straight no-hitter; three generations celebrate at East

Excitement grows on Culver Road as East wins third straight. Bishop Kearney is next.

Following a historic season, East baseball opens with back-to-back no hitters.

About The Author

dkramer3@naz.edu

Welcome to Talker of the Town! My name is David Kramer. I have a Ph.D in English and teach at Keuka College. I am a former and still active Fellow at the Nazareth College Center for Public History and a Storyteller in Residence at the SmallMatters Institute. Over the years, I have taught at Monroe Community College, the Rochester Institute of Technology and St. John Fisher College. I have published numerous Guest Essays, Letters, Book Reviews and Opinion pieces in The New York Times, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, the Buffalo News, the Rochester Patriot, the Providence Journal, the Providence Business News, the Brown Alumni Magazine, the New London Day, the Boston Herald, the Messenger Post Newspapers, the Wedge, the Empty Closet, the CITY, Lake Affect Magazine and Brighton Connections. My poetry appears in The Criterion: An International Journal in English and Rundenalia and my academic writing in War, Literature and the Arts and Twentieth Century Literary Criticism. Starting in February 2013, I wrote for three Democratic and Chronicle  blogs, "Make City Schools Better," "Unite Rochester," and the "Editorial Board." When my tenure at the D & C  ended, I wanted to continue conversations first begun there. And start new ones.  So we created this new space, Talker of the Town, where all are invited to join. I don’t like to say these posts are “mine.” Very few of them are the sole product of my sometimes overheated imagination. Instead, I call them partnerships and collaborations. Or as they say in education, “peer group work.” Talker of the Town might better be Talkers of the Town. The blog won’t thrive without your leads, text, pictures, ideas, facebook shares, tweets, comments and criticisms.

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