McClelland Miscellanea

August 28, 2023 · 7:10 pm

Kyle Richardson celebrates Oxford 250 weekend with Mad Bombers feature win

(Oxford ME) Their last race wasn’t what you expected.

A 20-lap feature with no cautions?

For the Mad Bombers, that is unusual. I haven’t seen all their thirteen features this season but I’m believing that cautions are the rule not the exception.

On August 12^th it was clear sailing. Those up front, stayed up front.

The unpredictability of the Mad Bombers returned AFTER that race ended when the apparent winner wasn’t registered to drive that car and was disqualified. Derek McKee (formerly in second) accepted the “gift.”

Switched from Friday night because of the rain, the Mad Bombers were part of the opening acts on Oxford 250 Sunday.

Before the large crowd, the Mad Bombers reverted to form and provided some exciting action. The outcome was in doubt and the interactions were numerous.

Cars collide on the first turn of the 20-lap feature

Kyle Richards came away with his first win.

Kyle crosses with the win and Corey Morgan takes second

The best Kyle had done previously, in this his first year in the Mad Bombers division, was 4^th in May and 2^nd in July.

“I had a great car today,” explained Kyle afterwards.

“We usually put one tire on a week, but we had four on this time,” he added. “The grip we had today was awesome.”

Kyle knew that he had something special in the heat he won. “We were flying on the outside,” he said.

Kyle needed more than those new tires to get the lead in the 20-lap feature.

Kyle got the help he hoped for on the first turn when a spinout by Cam Richards, in the first row, reshuffled the front of the pack.

Kyle took the high side past the trouble and started in the front row on the restart next to Jon Vargas.

Kyle took the lead but had a battle on his hands for a while with Justin Galloux who had also won his heat.

Also in the mix was points-leader Corey Morgan.

“We came out of that first caution in seventh and worked our way further up,” recalled Corey afterwards.

As Kyle started to extend his lead over Justin and Corey, another caution came out with five laps left.

That restart gave Justin and Corey another clean shot at overtaking the leader. (I thought at the time, that since Kyle and Justin had never won before, and Corey had won four times, I had to like his chances in a five-lap race.)

But Kyle had the pole and the tires and never gave in. Corey, however, had enough time to get second.

“I never thought I had the time to catch the 43 (Justin Gailloux) but the restart gave me the chance,” said Corey.

There have been seven different winners in the thirteen features in the Mad Bomber division. I think that the division has plenty of good drivers although many of them are young. The drivers tend to be aggressive, and the distance (20 laps) is short. Things happen.

In the second heat, Michael Deardon had the lead and looked safe to win it. Suddenly, his car slowed up, nearly causing an accident, and several cars went past before he regained his speed. He ended up third, but that brief speed loss cost him.

In the first heat, Callahan Cox took a spin. Dan Caswell tried to avoid him by turning right but instead went hard into the driver’s-side rear.

Sometimes you see an accident out on the track. Not this time. This was one that you heard…and I was at the top of the pit-side grandstand! Fortunately, Callahan got out of his car and walked on his own to the ambulance where he was checked over. Hopefully, he’s okay.

Justin Gailloux, Kyle Richardson, and Corey Morgan

Leave a comment

Filed under Mad Bombers, Oxford, Oxford 250, Oxford Plains Speedway

Tagged as Callahan Cox, Corey Morgan, Justin Gailloux, Kyle Richardson, Mad Bombers

August 23, 2023 · 6:56 pm

2023 Media Day for the Oxford 250

(Oxford ME) If the weather will only be this nice on Sunday!

Sunny, with a breeze and temperatures in the low 70s.

This afternoon (Wednesday) was Media Day leading up to the 50^th running of the Oxford 250 on Sunday.

Track owner Tom Mayberry hosted the event.

Opportunity was given afterwards to interviews drivers.

I spent time with eight of them and appreciated their cooperation.

Instead of trying to summarize what they said, I have chosen to quote them verbatim as closely as I can off my digital recorder.

This approach does leave you, the reader, unaware of the exact question I asked to get the response I’ve posted. I’m guessing, however, that OPS fans will figure that part out without any help from me.

Johnny Clark – “Hindsight is 20-20. At the time the place was really a one-groove track. I committed going down the backstretch to where I was going, and it just didn’t work out. But, that was a year ago. We can’t play that anymore in our heads. We have just moved past it. There has been no interaction with the winner. We haven’t spoke, and probably won’t. Don’t need to. Trouble won’t happen. I can’t guarantee what could happen on the track. That’s not going to happen on our end.

We’ve done so bad over here lately. I think we’ve exhausted all the things we wanted to try and have gone back to the basics here for the weekend. We’ve been so good at White Mountain this year. Oxford alone hasn’t changed that much. The same people that typically have been running good, are running good. We’re going to flip back the notebook a few years. We’re going back to the 250 notebook continuously to find more speed and comfort. Boy, I’ve failed at that recently here in the four times I’ve raced here. Last year we were in contention, obviously won it in 2020. We’ve been competitive the last eight years. We’ve either led laps or been in the top five. We just want to give ourselves a legitimate shot.

I shouldn’t have lifted behind the lap car. I thought that the lap car was going in a different direction. He surprised me. We were fortunate to spin it out and keep moving. The caution flew and the field was frozen, and we were moving forward and that’s why we restarted where we did. We came home fourth and were lucky it was a DNF.

Hopefully, with the weather the owner can salvage Saturday and Sunday.”

DJ Shaw – “It’s been a lot of years of close and just off on the pit strategy or one wrong move in traffic. There’s been so many years that I’ve made mistakes behind the wheel. We’ve had cars to contend and no one ever knew it because of things I did.

We’re off a little bit in general. I would say that here (OPS) we’ve been above average for us. We’re not winning races but we’re in the top six or so every time out. We have good momentum but not winning momentum.

Last year we won the race leading up to this one. We jumped ship on our strategy too soon I think. We ran near (Cole) Butcher the whole race. I wasn’t getting the track position I wanted. We took four tires first to get the track position we wanted and then took two at the end when everyone was taking four and hung on for 8^th. We knew that it was a move that would cost us a chance at a win, but it gave us a chance for a good finish.”

Dave Farrington – “2020 was our closest chance. We were chasing Johnny (Clark) down with about 25 laps to go. We caught him in lap traffic and then the caution came out. We restarted on the outside and lost it pretty much on that restart. We finished 4^th there and 6^th in 2012.

The crew comes together on race day. Everyone has their assigned task to execute, and they do a heck of a job. We raced close to 200 at Wiscasset this year. We were the first ones off pit road. We beat Mike Hopkins and all those guys. It’s a group of guys who get together for one day and get the job done. My crew is experienced. They make it happen.”

Gabe Brown – “We were lucky to get where we did. We had a good car but went down two laps early. We want to stay on strategy this year and have a chance at the end. If we can stay on strategy we might have a chance at the end. It was definitely good for us that this was a long race. We struggled to qualify and had trouble in the first 20 laps of the race. We were two laps down. We had a good enough car to be up front. We just needed to get there. We hope to start up front and stay up front. To go from two laps down to finishing third was something. It sucked being that close to the win at the end of the race but before that we had never been that close.”

Kate Re – “I would love to have this weather on Sunday, not too hot, not too cold. The rain can really change the track. I’m just here to put my helmet on like everyone else. When it comes to the Oxford 250, I want to be known as just another driver. I don’t want to be singled out because I’m a female up there. We’ll start by trying to race our way in and go from there. This track is greasy with not a lot of grip. You’re constantly turning so it’s not like your normal Thompson with a long straightaway and tight corners. You’re constantly turning. Passing is hard with the lack of grip. I would not be tempted to ride up on the high side. I like the fourth groove out there.”

Mike Rowe – “I think I’ve missed two or three of them out of the fifty. We hope to draw a good number and start up front this Sunday. We won here two or three weeks ago. The cars are so close. It’s hard to move up. It’s no cakewalk. You have to have everything going good for you. You have to have a good pit crew and sponsors to make this thing happen. The memory that sticks out is winning here for the first time. To be the first Mainer to win this was awesome. Tom Mayberry and his crew have done a tremendous job on the track. They’ve done pit row over. The place looks awesome.

It’s great to have Ben in the race. You look out for each other. He won’t be getting by me if I can help it, however.”

Joe Pastore – “I was racing for a different team last year. We put 80 or so laps and yellow came out with 160 laps down. I said, ‘Why don’t we come in and pit for fuel,’ and they said ‘no, we’ve got to make it to 180 and then come in and put 4 tires on.’ We were the 180 yellow. We never made it. We had a great car too all day. I think we had a chance to win it if we’d pitted and got fuel. You never know. There were a bunch of yellows and all that running around on yellow led to our running out of fuel. That was a bad way to give up a chance to win. I wish there had been a dial to signal empty but there wasn’t. We won’t do that this year. Maybe we’ll have full tank at the end!

It should be a great race. I’m racing for a new team. This year we were second here in points for a while and have fallen back to fifth. We ended up winning the big 100-lap race here.”

Ben Rowe – “We’ve raced each other for years. He’s not going to let me by very easily. The other drivers here will tell you, he’s probably the hardest one to get around. I don’t expect him to give me a break. He’s got a separate car, crew, and sponsors. He’s got his own deal and I’ve got mine. We race each other clean. We never rough each other up. The first year I won, we both started on the pole. That’s something you don’t even dream of. I grew up in these stands him bringing me since I was a little kid. This is all we know. Other than work, this is what we do.

The car this year has been good. It’s a matter of starting up front. Last time up we started up front, paced ourselves, and were able to go at the end and stay ahead of Max (Cookson).

You can’t win this thing in the first fifty laps, but you can lose it. You don’t want to get tore up. You want to stay out of trouble. You want to have a boring race until halfway and then start positioning yourself and get yourself right for the end. They say there will be 62 drivers and I say that at least 35 of them have a chance to win.”

Well, there you have it. Interesting things in there.

I can’t resist trying to predict the outcome.

Last year I guessed that it would be one of the Clark’s and that looked like an awfully good choice until things unraveled with eight laps left.

This year I’m going with DJ Shaw. He’s been close and he seems, to me, to be extremely well prepared. He knows what to do, but can he manage the variables that are bound to come on a small track, with so many cars, for a long distance? I say he gets it done on Sunday.

See you at the race.

Leave a comment

Filed under Oxford, Oxford 250, Oxford Hills, Oxford Plains Speedway

Tagged as Ben Rowe, Dave Farrington, DJ Shaw, Gabe Brown, Joe Pastore, Johnny Clark, Kate Re, Mike Rowe, Oxford 250, Tom Mayberry

August 13, 2023 · 6:34 pm

Derek McKeen wins his 2nd Mad Bombers feature

Derek McKeen with his mother and brother and tonight’s winner’s trophy

(Oxford ME) The Mad Bombers 20-lap feature is always interesting.

Spinouts, lead changes, and cautions are usually part of the package.

None of that tonight.

Those who started in the front had a good chance to still be there at the end.

Car 161 never trailed in the twenty laps

Derek McKeen (second inside) was one of those benefitting from the nice starting place.

“I was just glad it went green to checker,” said Derek. “That helped us a lot.”

Everyone stayed out of trouble and Derek finished second.

Derek McKeen finishes second……..for a while

“We kept it tight on the inside and didn’t let anybody have any room,” said Derek.

But Derek’s good fortune on the track continued into the tech inspection area on this night.

When the tech inspectors checked the paperwork of the winner, it was discovered the car wasn’t registered to him.

The winner’s mistake cost him first and gave the win to Derek McKeen.

Corey Morgan made his usual run on the Angel’s Expressway

The victory for Derek ends four weeks of serious struggling at OPS; (July 8 – 19^th), (July 22 – 17^th), (July 30 – 14^th), and (August 5 – 18^th).

“We’ve had a lot of good runs (first on May 27^th) and a lot of DNFs,” said Derek. “It’s been a rough year.”

“Unpredictable” would be the best way to describe the Mad Bombers Division after eleven weeks of racing. That is what happens when you put 20+ drivers on a small track for just 20 laps.

The next time out for the Mad Bombers is on the Friday of the Oxford 250 weekend. Worth the watch!

Three of the mothers of Mad Bomber drivers

Leave a comment

Filed under Mad Bombers, Oxford, Oxford 250, Oxford Hills, Oxford Plains Speedway

Tagged as Derek McKeen, Mad Bombers Division

August 12, 2023 · 2:02 pm

Hartford 7 Portland 4

(Portland ME) Brainer Bonaci is the new guy in Portland.

No name on the back of his uniform but the 20-year-old played his second game with the Sea Dogs on Thursday afternoon.

Brainer’s presence wasn’t enough to help the team on this gorgeous afternoon but there’s always a bigger picture when it comes to the minor leagues.

Everyone is auditioning.

Trying to convince someone that AA Portland is below their skill level.

Brainer will get his chance to prove himself.

He is an infielder. You have to wonder how he fits in at the next two levels.

In this game, Portland was down 3-0 before even batting! Hartford’s leadoff batter Niko Decolati took starter Hunter Dobbins deep on the second pitch he saw.

The Sea Dogs got two back quickly but could never get even.

The celebrated prospects on both teams were missing.

#2 Zac Veen (injured), #3 Yanquiel Fernandez (inactive), #5 Drew Romo (inactive), and #7 Gabriel Hughes (inactive) were missing for the Yard Goats.

#1 Marcelo Mayer (injured), #6 Nick Yorke (inactive) were missing for the Sea Dogs.

However, I’ve done enough of the Portland games to know Marcelo and Nick by sight so that I could find them away from the playing field.

Today was a bright noonday game. I brought my Sigma 200m/F2.8. I could have brought the Sigma 600m/F5.6 but that F-Stop denies me the chance to shoot fast.

The sun was minimized by the hood on the camera. However, the sun was in the faces of the players coming my way so their visors shaded them. Nothing I could do about that position wise.

I experimented with some very high speeds to see if I could get the baseball in focus in pictures. I tried 1/4000 and got a blurry baseball. I’ll try even faster another time.

Despite some players being missing, I did get quite a few shots of #11 Brainer Bonaci and #12 Blaze Jordan. Both are twenty and very young to be at the AA level. The Red Sox bosses are obviously optimistic about the two of them to have them where they are so early.

Blaze is a 1B/3B with power.

Today was the day the area recreation departments came to Hadlock. There were sections of similar jerseys throughout the park. Might have been the highlight of the summer for some of the rec departments.

Slugger got in with a speedster today. The Big Guy appeared to be really trying to keep up but the kid, who may have a high school track career in his future, never slowed up. In fact, he never looked to see where Slugger was. The kid wasn’t going to be denied. But he was classy afterwards giving Slugger a high-five for his effort.

Continued thanks to Chris Cameron for arranging my visits. Being in the midst of a buzzing park with a chance to take pictures from a great vantage point is greatly appreciated.

Dylan Spacke was signing before the game

Grant Lavigne from Bedford (NH) High School homered for Hartford

Leave a comment

Filed under Brainer Bonaci, Hadlock Field, Portland Sea Dogs

Tagged as blaze jordan, Brainer Bonaci, Grant Lavigne, Marcelo Mayer, Nick Yorke

August 9, 2023 · 9:34 pm

Nate Barth wins second Mad Bombers feature

Nate Barth wins his second Mad Bombers feature

(Oxford ME) It had been a long time.

Three-and-a-half months.

But Saturday night Nate Barth got that elusive second Mad Bombers victory after nine unsuccessful tries.

“We had a good car,” Nate said afterwards. “The thing has been pretty fast all year and finally we had some good luck and pulled it off.”

That “good luck” part had to do with avoiding accidents and gaining ground when they happened….and there were several of them.

Nate started 13^th in the twenty-lap feature.

“I was running 7^th or 8^th for the first half of the race,” he recalled. “There was a wreck on Turn #3 that I avoided and pulled off some spots and got to 5^th. On the next restart, I got the lead and hung on through a couple of wild restarts for the win.”

Corey Morgan came in second. Corey has won four times and has been in the hunt on almost all of the Mad Bombers eleven features this season.

I continue to find the Mad Bombers very entertaining to watch. You put twenty race cars on a small track and require them to sort things out in just twenty laps you’re almost certain to see a good show.

There will be contact. Accidents will happen. Three wide is normal. Hard feelings can be stirred.

“There certainly is a lot of beating and banging in this division,” said Nate. “It’s an entry level division. Everyone is just trying to get their feet wet so that they can move forward.”

Nate gets the lead followed by Nick Wilson

Today’s race did end in controversy. Nate thought he had won and then found out that he hadn’t.

“We went from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows,” recalled Nate. Apparently, there was a problem during one of the cautions. But that was resolved, and Nate was reinstalled as the winner.

Nate in the lead followed by Tony Gibbons and Corey Morgan

Tony Gibbons gets the lead with Corey Morgan 2nd and Nate 3rd

Nate back in front with Tony Gibbons 2nd and Corey Morgan 3rd

Final lap with Nate leading and Corey Morgan 2nd

Leave a comment

Filed under Mad Bombers, Oxford, Oxford Plains Speedway

Tagged as Corey Morgan, Mad Bombers, Nate Barth, Oxford Plains Speedway

August 2, 2023 · 5:35 pm

Ruben Sanca and Jackie Solimine-Fazioli top 63rd Yankee Homecoming 10-mile road race

Ruben Sanca and Eric Ashe together at one mile

(Newburyport MA) Sometimes it’s your parents who set the boundaries: “Leave your sister alone!”

For runners the boundary-setter comes from their bodies.

Eric Ashe finished second to Ruben Sanca in the 63^rd annual Yankee Homecoming 10-mile road race.

“My legs didn’t have it today, I knew right off the bat,” said Eric afterwards.

“I took a couple of easy days after working hard training thinking it would be enough (for this race) but it wasn’t,” he added.

It was hard to tell that anything was wrong with Eric’s legs in the early going.

Eric and Ruben Sanca were flying together at the first-mile marker seeming destined for a close, fast matchup.

But that togetherness ended over the next two miles.

“I wasn’t aware of what kind of pace we were running at,” recalled Ruben after winning the race for the fourth time. “I was just trying to stay relaxed and maintain my effort.”

Ruben said that he thought that he gained separation from Eric “on the other side of Hanover Street.”

“Ruben pulled away in Miles 3-5 and put a big gap on me,” said Eric. “After that I was trying to not give up.”

Ruben came in at 51:48 while Eric settled for 53:24.

Jackie Solimine-Fazioli was pleased with her win: “I’ve come in second and third. It was nice to get a win.”

Like Ruben, Jackie’s competition didn’t last too long.

I was surprised when Jackie told me the specifics of how her breaking away from her nearest competitor happened.

“There was another woman nearby for a mile or two,” said Jackie. “We were chatting, and I looked at my watch and said that ‘I should probably pick it up.’”

And pick it up she did.

You know that conversations go on among the casual runners. Who knew that the top runners do it too during a race!

Jackie (1:00:19) won the race and Beth Dollas (1:04) finished second.

“I was trying to break an hour,” said Jackie. “Maybe next time.”

Maybe if Jackie could cut down her chatting time…….?

Beautiful weather, close to seventy degrees.

Over 600 runners finished the 10-mile race. There were 114 runners from Newburyport who completed the course.

The course was changed a bit this year because going over Route 95 and blocking the exits and entrances to the highway were no longer allowed. The major adjustment to compensate was continuing down High Street/High Road to Rolfe’s Landing instead of Federal Street before taking the left toward the Merrimack River.

“The crowd was great and there was plenty of support,” said Jackie.

1 Comment

Filed under Ruben Sanca, Yankee Homecoming

Tagged as 63rd Yankee Homecoming, Cam Leonard, Eric Ashe, jackie solimine-fazioli, Mac Sloan Anderson, Newburyport, Ruben Sanca, Rusty Shackleford

July 31, 2023 · 8:54 pm

Cody Macomber Wins Mad Bombers Feature

Cody Macomber (4) finishes ahead of Cam Richards (37R) and Corey Morgan (26)

(Oxford ME) There’s nothing quite like the first time.

“It was awesome,” was how young Cody Macomber summed up his first win in the Mad Bombers Division tonight.

Cody Macomber with his first trophy in the Mad Bombers Division

Cody was in the Rookie Division last year and had been successful there.

“I had plenty of podiums,” he recalled.

This year Cody moved up to the Mad Bombers where the drivers are more experienced, and the field is crowded.

Through the first nine races before tonight it has been tough. Seventh place finishes in May and June were as good as it got.

That’s probably why tonight’s win was so surprising and so sweet for Cody.

I asked Cody what was different that would explain the startling win. “I started up front (behind pole-setter Tony Gibbons) and the car was good.”

Cody starts behind pole-setter Tony Gibbons

Cody stayed low on the track for most of the 20-lap feature and it paid off. Once he had the lead, he kept the inside and forced challengers to try outside passes.

Cody’s last challenger (Corey Morgan) ventured up to the “Angels’ Highway” on the track hoping to get by the young leader but couldn’t get it done.

Cody in the lead with Maddy Herrick (95) second

Corey Morgan (26) ventures onto the Angels’ Highway

Asked about future races in the division, Cody said with a smile, “We’re going to drive to the front and do it again.”

Leave a comment

Filed under Mad Bombers, Oxford, Oxford Hills, Oxford Plains Speedway

Tagged as Cody Macomber, Mad Bombers Division, Oxford Plains Speedway

July 24, 2023 · 2:02 pm

Trevor and some other stories

Portland 6 New Hampshire 2

(Portland ME) They came to see Trevor Story.

You could tell the crowd awareness when Trevor’s name was announced.

And they saw six innings of him.

He looked good.

Trevor is rehabbing his right wrist. That wrist got mixed up with a pitched ball late in the 2022 season. It didn’t appear to be healing right so surgery was performed on the wrist in January of this year.

The rehabbing process is underway. This coming week Trevor will be in AAA Worcester.

Trevor Story makes a throw from deep short

Trevor made a play today that would suggest that the wrist is coming along fine. A New Hampshire batter hit the ball to deep short to Trevor’s right. Trevor got there and then elevated and made an accurate, in time, throw to first. Great play for any shortstop but for one on a rehab assignment it must have felt especially good.

I was near the Portland dugout, so I was able to see Trevor in the dugout as well. For his six innings there he was seldom in the same place.

Something important (I think) happened in the sixth inning. In that inning, Trevor had walked and eventually gotten to third base. At third, he was replaced, and you knew that his day was done and that he would probably be heading for the exits. Not so fast.

Once in the dugout, Trevor picked up his glove and went over and sat down beside Marcelo Mayer. Marcelo is Boston’s #1 prospect and a 20-year-old shortstop. Trevor sat with Marcelo during what turned out to be a long inning and engaged in a lengthy conversation.

Trevor Story talks to Marcelo Mayer before leaving

Marcelo, wisely, did a lot of listening to someone who already is a major league shortstop and one who will likely have that position with the Red Sox when his rehab is over.

I thought it was a neat gesture by Trevor and certainly helpful to Marcelo.

Today’s game started out to be all about Trevor but when it ended it was also about the no-hitter that three Sea Dogs’ pitchers (Wikelman Gonzalez, Brendan Cellucci, Luis Guerrero) had put together.

Wikelman Gonzalez was part of a 3-player no-hitter

It was a little hard to realize that today’s pitching would be eventful because Portland’s pitchers allowed seven walks and two runs were scored by the Fisher Cats.

But it ended up a no-hitter.

Interesting, to me, was that pitcher CJ Liu was the player signing pregame. CJ pitched a seven-inning no-hitter in Akron on May fifth for Portland.

Trevor’s play from deep short saved a hit but it was third baseman Blaze Jordan’s snare of a line drive that was the defensive play of the game in my opinion. Blaze’s grab saved a run and turned into a double play as he finished the play picking off the NH baserunner at second base.

3B Blaze Jordan congratulated by Trevor Story after nice catch

Speaking of finishing, Slugger continues not to be able to finish. He gets around first base with a win in sight and just runs dry. Granted he’s big but he does have long legs. He always puts on a good show but it’s never on the bases!

Plenty of sun on this afternoon.

I chose to bring only my Sigma F2.8 – 70-200 today. Last time I went strictly with the 600. I was hoping for some Trevor Story closeups with the 200 which I couldn’t get with the 600 because of its length and high F-Stop. The 200 was a good choice. That F2.8 was good for raising the speed to 1/2000 on some action shots. I could also adjust it to get some nice closeups.

I have been collecting 8×10 pictures when CVS offers free ones. One of the Trevor Story pictures will certainly be the next one I get done.

The sun at Hadlock is in the “targets” faces but it is what it is. Close shots take care of that issue.

Thanks, as always, to Chris Cameron for giving me the opportunity to “get close” at Hadlock Field.

New Hampshire runner picked off by Tyler McDonough

Trevor Story heads out for pre-game exercising

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

July 21, 2023 · 2:36 pm

New Hampshire 7 Portland 4

(Portland ME) You won’t remember the score.

You ask anyone who just attended a Sea Dogs game, “Who won?”

They might get that right, but it is unlikely they’ll have the score.

Why?

Too many other things caught their attention and later their memory.

And for each visitor the memories will vary.

I am easily caught up with watching/photographing the major leaguers of the future.

Some might care less for that. They hardly know the names of the players on either team!

Chase Meidroth was one of seven top-thirty prospects in the Portland batting order today

Today was gold for me. Why? The top seven in the Sea Dogs batting order were the seven of the top thirty Red Sox prospects. How often does that happen?

Newcomer Blaze Jordan had two hits vs New Hampshire today

Sometimes you go to Hadlock, and some of the prospects are inactive. Not today. They appeared at the plate one after another. There certainly were opportunities to get a look at each of them.

My struggle, photographically speaking, was the noon start in bright sunshine. I want the sun in my face so that the players’ faces I am trying to get are not shaded by visors. Not possible today because the only angle available had the “sun issue.”

The conditions forced me into some high ISOs. When I raised the ISO, the faces weren’t shaded BUT Portland’s white uniforms were overexposed. Getting the uniforms right shaded the faces.

Next time solution? Different lens. I brought my 600 with its high-numbered F-Stop. I couldn’t speed things up to lower the ISO. I had to drop the speed down to 1/640 and in doing so lessened my chance for great focus.

What I do like about the 600 is that I can avoid being too intrusive when shooting a person.

I am realizing that most of the long shots I take are of lesser quality. Most of what I want to shoot is going to come into range of my 200 and its nice F-Stop of 2.8. It will be a bit frustrating to let go of the long-range action shots, however.

Matthew Lugo hit a three-run homer for the Sea Dogs today

The star of today’s game was New Hampshire’s starter Sem Robberse. He shut out the Sea Dogs (and all their prospects!) for five innings while his teammates went off against Sterling Sharpe to build up a 7-0 lead. Matt Lugo had a 3-run homer off NH relief in the eighth inning to lessen the spread. However, the cows had left the barn!

I was intent on getting newcomer Blaze Jordan (#10 prospect) and Nick Yorke (#3 prospect). Blaze (1B) & Nick (2B) were selected 3^rd and 1^st in the 2020 draft.

Blaze had two hits this afternoon while Nick had one.

Today was recreation department day at Hadlock. Many camps attended and there were activities for the kids on the field before the game. Most camps had their own specific bright shirt. Probably helped the counselors trying to keep track of kids!

Marcelo Mayer having fun pregame in the dugout

Marcelo Mayer seems to be the prospect likely to make the biggest future splash at the major-league level. He’s 6-2/188 pounds. Good size for a shortstop. He seems very comfortable in the field for a 20-year-old. Drafted in the first round in 2021. He bats left-handed. I have tried to get shots of him in quantity because it is quite likely he will move on to AAA Worcester before the end of the season.

My photo moment of the game was catching Nick Yorke in the dugout in full spit. I was shooting at a fast enough speed to catch the “flow.” Some may be offended………I blame the camera!

Another race loss for Hall-of-Fame mascot Slugger. The Big Guy (not Biden) was up against a camper from O-AT-KA in Sebago. They were even heading into the final stretch, but Slugger couldn’t finish. He does a lot of walking around the stands greeting patrons before he does the race. That could well be taking the legs out from him.

Thanks to Chris Cameron for allowing me access to ever-entertaining Hadlock Field.

Leave a comment

Filed under Marcelo Mayer, Nick Yorke, Portland, Portland Sea Dogs, Sports Photography

Tagged as Marcelo Mayer, Nick Yorke, Sports Photography

July 17, 2023 · 4:27 pm

33rd Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl Classic

East 28 West 23

(Lewiston ME) Football in July!

Sounds hot and it was.

But the peripheries minimized the heat and the lengthy program.

Football was played but the major takeaway (for me) was the financial generosity shown to those in less fortunate circumstances.

Getting involved was not an option for the players and the cheerleaders. They were expected to fund raise and wow did they!

The total raised this year was reported to be $235,399.

The top fundraisers were Matt Charpentier (York) & Jordan Craft (Old Town) and they were honored at halftime.

The money raised goes to the twenty-two Shrine Children’s hospitals.

I decided to get to Lewiston High School 45 minutes to an hour early. I wanted a good place to park so that I could leave with some ease.

When I arrived, I quickly figured out that I might well have been the LAST person to arrive. The parking lot was full and fortunately, for me, I slid into a pretty good location.

I walked up the hill into the stadium area and saw the stands packed and the players already on the field. So much for getting set up before things started!

I surmised that the players/cheerleaders came by car not bus. Therefore, getting there early was a necessity for parents.

The sun was shining, and the field was turf.

The East wore red, and the West wore blue.

The teams had several weeks of practice at Foxcroft Academy.

Trying to put a team together on such limited notice had to be extremely challenging. Granted, seventeen of the nineteen seniors on the Maine All-State team were involved.

The game had a ton of penalties with most of them being in the “not-enough-time-together” category.

A scoffer might say, “You put a flag in an official’s pocket and sooner or later they’ll want to throw it!” Plenty were thrown. Also, plenty of timeouts were used when coaches could see that the expected play had players out of place. But this was bound to happen under the circumstances.

Stability could be a difference maker and fortunately for the East they had it in quarterback Eli Soehren (East MVP) and his dad, head coach Mark Soehren.

The state-champ, Oxford Hills duo guided the East to a 28-23 win ending a three-game losing streak.

Eli, who will attend Colby, took every snap and had a connection to every point. How? He threw three touchdown passes, rushed for a touchdown, and kicked four extra points.

The West had a pretty good passing game too. Jaelen Jackson (12-17 = 147 yards) and DJ Alston (9-18 = 126 yards) found receivers, especially West MVP Nick Laughlin (9 catches for 157 yards).

The West rallied back to within five points late in the final quarter but couldn’t get another possession to shoot for the win.

The East’s Eli Bigelow had two touchdown catches in the first half.

I was close to one of Eli’s TD catches. In that one, he caught the pass near the back of the end zone and sat down against the fence beyond the end zone. (That chain link fence was alarmingly close to the back of the end zone IMO.)

There were also senior cheerleaders for both sides. They, too, had practiced for today’s event. At half-time the two squads combined for a performance. What I thought was a brilliant idea was that they did their routine twice………once for each side of the field. This arrangement gave everyone a look at what the squads were doing.

Information you may not need: I sat on the East bench during half-time as the cheerleaders were performing. My intention was to look through my pictures and try to delete the ones needing deletion. Suddenly, one of the West’s cheerleaders came running my way. I guessed she was after a prop for the performance. Wrong. She headed for a big trash barrel nearby and embraced it, losing a meal. She then took about five steps back toward the field and was back engaged with that barrel again! After that she ran back to the action and joined in. Talk about a gamer!

Later, when I was processing the pictures I took, I realized how many photographers were there. So many of my pictures had photographers behind the players I was shooting at. I’m guessing that I also made my way into a few pictures I wasn’t posing for.

Picture taking can be hazardous. You never know when the action will be coming to you. But when it does, you must instantly decide how many pictures you’ll take before you bail out for safety’s sake.

My moment, in that regard in this game, was when the West’s Hayden Whitney (Thornton Academy) came clear around the left end in the first half. My concern was tacklers coming from the left who would drive him out-of-bounds to where I was. I jumped out of picture-taking possibility early and Hayden was driven out of bounds about five yards before he reached me. I got a shot of Hayden (41-yard carry) but his eyes are closed.

The crowd was relaxed and so were the players on the sidelines. The coaches were a bit frustrated at times but even they were mellow compared to what I’ve heard at some football games I’ve been to.

I really enjoyed the whole experience. I will probably consider attending next year unless they choose to play it at Fort Kent!