And then there was one, as in Johnstown entries remaining alive in this 81st AAABA Tournament.
For the second consecutive day, I passed on attending the games, for various reasons. But I had an emissary at both.
While I skipped the afternoon game, I instead took my 2004 Mustang GT out for a cruise and, looking for an ironic twist, stopped by the observation platform at the still dormant Inclined Plane to take a peek at the game from on high. It was a quintessential Johnstown moment, with a rather rotund gentlemen sitting on said platform, beneath a sign prohibiting smoking or vaping. He was smoking.
I walked to the edge, where one could see most of the playing surface at Point Stadium down on the valley floor. There was a runner on second base, for which team I could not tell.
The call was made to my man in the stands and even as we spoke, Martella’s went up on New Orleans. We chatted for a time and then I headed back to the car. The smoking scofflaw offered to take my car for a ride and fill up the gas tank for me, but he couldn’t guarantee he’d bring it back. Even though I declined the offer, he did profess a like for the ride.
Later, back home, I checked online and found some videos posted to Facebook, apparently by a New Orleans fan. Martella’s eventually went up 4-0 through six innings and I stopped checking.
I did, however, call my guy for an update a tad later, figuring the game was over and the news would be good. It was not good news. This laid-back individual, who makes it a habit not to get worked up, was frothing at the mouth over how Martella’s had thrown away the game, literally and figuratively, losing 5-4.
I had told him earlier Thursday, when he’d tried to entice me to go, that I had a bad feeling about the game and would just as soon not see New Orleans win. The ending as described to me would have put me into a catatonic state.
This helped me decide also to pass on the Mainline nightcap at the Point because, simply put, I figured Mainline would make short work of the Altoona team it was facing and if I ended up being wrong about that, I’d rather not witness it.
This time I got it right, with Mainline advancing by virtue of a 12-2, seven-inning romp. The remaining Johnstown entry, the defending AAABA champion, gets to play Buffalo in a semifinal game Friday night.
I told my man I’d likely join him for that Mainline-Buffalo game Friday, which no doubt means much-threatened rain will at last visit us.
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