The Reception and Weekend Dartball

Our early Spring weather lasted just long enough to get us through the Wedding Reception over the weekend...now we have ice north and a freezing rain mix south, with snow on the way, maybe a few inches before morning.

We pulled out of Celina at 1pm Saturday afternoon heading for Fairborn and our hotel at Wright Patterson AFB.  When we arrived, we found a nearly empty Hope(named after Bob Hope) Hotel and Conference Center...seems it was a slow weekend on the base, so our little group, which included my friend Rick and wife Toni from northern Indiana, Andy, Amy, and their boys from the Louisville, Kentucky, area, and the Schillings from Celina, nearly alone in the large building on the grounds of the Air Force base....we had plenty of elbow room.   The rest of the overnight staying group, including sister Marty and family, along with brother Mike's daughter Lori, would stay at the Cross Country or Courtyard(can't remember which) near the AF Museum....because it had a pool.  Hal and Lisa would join our group Sunday morning at Packy's Grill at the Hope for breakfast, before we all headed towards our various homes.

The reception itself, went without a hitch....plenty of kids and their families that Hal and Lisa work with, the kids, all of them, were well involved in the festivities....Anissa had a great time, dancing most of the night.  The Celina crew, which included a dozen or more of Hal's running mates and friends like Garry and Lisa, and other members of both families managed to close out the prepaid portion of the bar by 9:15 thus turning it into a 'cash bar' until we closed shop at 11pm.  The bartender at the Fairborn American Legion, said that was the first time they had seen anybody drink down the prepaid portion...I told him, "That's because you have never seen a crowd from Mercer County".   A great time was had by all, as far as I can tell....and now Hal and Lisa can resume a "normal" life...whatever that may be or bring.  It was indeed a fun last two weeks.

As we said good bye to those with us at the Hope, the rain was falling...as we drove north towards Celina on Ohio 49 to US 127,  ice was mixing with the downfall.  Sam had came back to Celina late Saturday night and was doing laundry from his Columbus apartment when we arrived.

Dartball Tournament____

With the regular season finished, the Wabash Valley Dartball League began the post season tournaments yesterday....that tournament and the divisional regular season playoffs will run concurrently the next couple of weeks, with everything ending with the all star game on March 7th and the season ending banquet on March 14th.

In the opening round of the tournament, done with a 'blind draw', we drew perennial power Schumm....we have had some good battles over the years, but of late they have been a superior team.  This season we had managed to split the season with them, each team taking 3 games.  We won our 3 at home in the second half returning the favor of them sweeping us at Schumm back in November.  They brought 12 players we had 11....and it appeared our tournament and season(except for the 3 of us in the all start game) would be done in a quick fashion.  We struggled, getting only 6 teams hits and lost game one of the best of 3 by a score of 6-1.  Then after a quick meal and snack break, everybody started hitting for our squad...and we held on for a 9-6 second game win to tie things up, setting up the "rubber game" and deciding which team would move on to the semi-finals and a shot at the finals next Sunday.

We put points on the scoreboard in the first 4 innings of the final game and never looked back, coming away with the game 9-3, and the series by a count of 2 games to 1.  Everybody on the team contributed, most of the players had 3 or 4 hits...I lucked out and led the team, going 6 hits in 11 at bats, with 3 triples and 3 runs batter in...next Sunday we will play the league bottom dwellers, who pulled off a 2 game sweep yesterday...which is always dangerous.  We defeated Bethany 5 games to 1 during the season, and anything can and usually does happen come post season tournament.  Whoever wins that match will immediately play for the championship against the winner of the Hopewell and Rockford Methodist game.  I cannot remember the last time that both Schumm and Mt Carmel have not made the semi finals.  Of course both teams are still left in the Divisional Playoffs, as usual.  We are just glad to be still playing, with a good chance of adding another trophy to our church's case.

Down to just one scheduled basketball game, next Friday at Allen East.   Baseball meeting, clinics, and scrimmages before the regular season begins on March 28th at Paulding.

back later>>>>

Photos-Lisa and Hal pose with the Hemmelgarn's and extended family, including brother Mike's daughter Lori and the grandkids...Rick and Toni Pearson, Lisa and Garry Mosier, along with Hal's buddies"Stump" Eckstein and our back yard neighbor Derek Wenning, and the Houseworth and Mangione family...Andy, wife Amy, and boys, are from the Cleveland/Akron area and now reside in Louisville Kentucky...