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Hydrate in the high heat and avoid getting half-baked

May 19, 2017

Mother and daughter - Amy Kuhlman and her daughter Katie crossed the finish line together at 32:00 in the early morning rain last Saturday in the Mother’s Day Remembrance 5K. Katie usually runs faster but decided to cruise with Mom for a Mother’s Day present. “I’ll always have that photo of us crossing together,” Amy said. “What a great gift from an 11-year-old.” Dad Brett crossed 20 seconds in front of them but didn’t make the cropped photo, which is what he gets for going Great Santini on the girls at the end of the race.

Septic shock - Tuesday afternoon sports practices at Cape, a summer-type May day, so hot even the hope and promise of youth were ignominiously and hideously interrupted by septic shock riding the cool ocean breezes. Somebody decided it was a good idea to pump out a septic storage tank on the backside of the school (you’ll excuse the expression). The noxious decision moved all the way into second place all-time behind the day when contractors decided to hot tar the high school roof during the school day with students inside. Ryan Head, a recent Henlopen Conference Champion in the pole vault, went to full-blown Taliban headgear to protect his nostrils and brain as pristine Cape nestled between the ocean and the bay suddenly smelled like downtown Kabul.

Hey Kid! - By default setting, I was charged with getting a group photo of 70 middle school lacrosse players combining Mariner and Beacon. I stopped a young guy crossing my flight path. “Hey, kid, stop right there; I need to check my lighting and focus.” He could have retreated inward like a turtle on a country road, but he just smiled, then moved along with his life. I was not surprised to learn that 10-year-old Brandon’s mom is Jamie Hill Loucks, a relentlessly outgoing, positive and engaging former Cape track star.

Seeding for a second - Cape girls’ lacrosse was seeded third in the upcoming state tournament, and no one on the inside is talking about anything except dealing with Caravel, which will visit Champions Stadium this Saturday for a 6 p.m. quarterfinal game. The Vikings have won 8 straight state titles and 24 straight state tournament games, which is great when sitting around the gas grill chewing the fat, but when the game starts, it is zero to zero. Goals in the game have to be earned.

Stats Incorporated - Baseball computer programs can answer and retrieve any question if the raw data is burned onto the hard drive. Some humans can do the same thing; we call them savants. The difference is, you can turn off a computer, but those plagued by remembering too much can’t shut it down, and remembering specifics becomes disabling for “can’t see the forest for the trees” personality types. According to STATS LLC, Tyler Collins of the Tigers became the first player on record (since at least 1913) to enter a game in an 0-for-30 slump or longer and hit multiple home runs in a game. Collins' double in the eighth gave him 10 total bases in four plate appearances. He had just 30 total bases in 106 plate appearances coming into the game. The Tigers beat the Orioles 5-4. That is a stat only a computer could retrieve, but the savant could add in birthdays of all who pitched in the game.

Snippets - Hunter Schaeffer, older brother of Cape’s Chloe, is on the Salisbury men’s lacrosse team that defeated Cabrini 17-5 and moved to the semifinals set for Sunday, May 21, to face Denison at home. Coach Jim Berkman recently won his 500th game; he is the only lacrosse coach across all divisions and genders to win 500 games. Last year, siblings Hunter and Chloe enjoyed national and state championships, but not as much as their parents Melinda and Eric. Riding past Frawley Stadium last Wednesday I thought, “Cape baseball can get back.” I also thought it was the only good place in the entire state to watch a baseball game. The state track meet is Friday and Saturday at Dover High. I’m too dumb to hydrate, so I may wait for better weather Saturday; I’d hate to leave Dover half-baked and stay that way.  Go on now, git!

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