As we have crossed the Memorial Day weekend and are roughly two months into the pro baseball season. Players have now gotten enough experience that you can start analyzing and evaluating performances. With that in mind, we caught up with Morning Call Senior Sports Writer Tom Housenick (who covers the Phillies minor league affiliates) to talk about the Phillies, their farm system and get his thoughts on how well the organizations top prospects are doing…
Tom will be on the June 22nd edition of “SportsTalk” to go into more details about MLB & MiLB baseball issues.
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There are also some special high school teams and organizations I want to give shout-outs for their recent efforts.
First, the Allentown Central Catholic state winning girls volleyball team. The Vikettes not only captured district and PIAA gold this past year (coming out of perhaps the most competitive area for volleyball in the entire state) but did a great job on last week’s “SportsTalk Goes Wild” show, on location at the Whitehall “Buffalo Wild Wings.”
Head Coach Laurie Corcoran, her staff and her players had some great insights on their accomplishments, both this year, and in the program’s history (Central Catholic was the “original” girls volleyball champion in the Valley–winning the first one back in 2001).
This year’s squad shared some of their special memories and were very entertaining on our program. We’d like to thank them for coming out on a rainy evening to be the stars of our show last Thursday. If you missed it, RCN customers can watch the show for free (for up to two months) through RCN On-Demand!
Also, I want to single-out the teams who competed in the District XI girls lacrosse championships at Lehigh University this past week. SportsTalk Videographer Alyssa Sheckler and I had the pleasure of taking in both title games last week, and both of us were very impressed with the competing teams.
Saucon Valley (winners of their first district lacrosse title ever, after not winning a single game five seasons ago) and Moravian Academy and then Parkland (the 3A winners) against a spirited Easton ball club made for two hard fought games. The Panthers took the early lead in their title game but had to hold on as the Lions stormed back to make it close. The Trojans and Red Rovers went back and forth all night before Parkland held the final possession for a one-goal victory.
Lacrosse doesn’t get the attention local baseball and softball receives (ironically, we tried to cover four different lacrosse matches this year–all of them got rained out or moved to different sites). I, for one, was very impressed by all four representatives in the District XI championships (our features on those games are also available through RCN On-Demand).
Saucon, Parkland and Easton all move on and embark on the state tourney this week, and we wish all three local teams the best of luck in their state championship quest.
Thirdly, I wanted to mention an upcoming event held at William Allen high school. Canaries’ Senior Marcus Dileo Vereen was diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia. To help raise money to help with medical costs, the school is sponsoring #MarcusStrongDay on Saturday, June 3rd from 9am-2pm in the Allen cafeterias. They are holding a blood drive, bone marrow registry drive, a bake sale, raffles, prizes, games and fun for all. Support is desperately needed for this outstanding student (who is also dual-enrolled in college level classes).
For more information, you can call Susan Wood at 484-765-5197 or email her at Woods@qallentownsd.org. You can also email the Allen Football Head Coach, George Clay, at claygf@allentownsd.org for details on this cause.
Last but certainly not least, June 3rd is also the date of this year’s Howard Deppe Memorial Baseball All-Star Event held at Fegley Field at Limeport Stadium. There are multiple activities going on throughout the day to highlight local high school baseball all-star players, including a skills competition and home run hitting contest. The event raises money and awareness for the American Cancer Society.
A representative will be on the next “SportsTalk” program to talk about this year’s festivities and let you know how you can help support and donate to this worthy cause.
