News & notes

 After splitting the first four games of their series with the Down East Bird Dawgs, the Tri-City Valleycats got back down to business Saturday night.

Arlo Marynczak (Bethlehem/Siena) pitched a complete game with 12 strikeouts, as Tri-City's offense matched his K total in a 12-0 blowout.

Note that in the 3 wins in this series, Tri-City has piled up 44 runs against Down East's 3. The Bird Dawgs' 2 wins were closer games, including a walk-off on Friday. In all, the 'Cats have scored 58 runs in the 5 games to Down East's 19.

The series concludes today at 1:30 pm.

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Next victim?

The Albany Firebirds left no doubt who was the better team Saturday in their AF1 semi-final vs. Salina, blowing out the Liberty, 75-44.

Albany will find out who will challenge them for the Arena Crown next Saturday afternoon when Southwest Kansas & Nashville meet later today.

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Ana Gold & the Blaze are having a rough time in the AUSL.

The Blaze were blown out, 11-3, Saturday, by the Bandits in a game broadcast on MLB Network. Gold went 1-3 in the game. 

Just as unfortunate is the fact that the AUSL's itinerary doesn't include the northeast, and especially the 518, denying Gold (Ballston Spa/Duke) the opportunity to play in front of family & friends.

And we're hearing they'll settle on host cities for the teams next season, perhaps with hope of expansion. 

Give New York an AUSL franchise!

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If you're wondering why the Albany Times-Union hasn't been keeping track of 518 alums in the pros during baseball season, as they'd been doing in recent years, it's due to a lack of available space. Plus, flag football beat reporter Kyra Santicola was promoted to sports editor earlier this year, succeeding Bill Douglas, and probably hasn't gotten a chance to compile stats. If the charts don't start appearing soon, then we have to think it's now a lower priority. Stay tuned.