By David Gravely
The rain, the wind, the mud, and even a cat couldn't put a stop to the opening day festivities Tuesday at Historic Calfee Park as the Pulaski Mariners overcame an early 1-0 lead by the visiting Danville Braves to earn a 5-2 win and start the season off in style. Winning the game was an important thing, but there were other things going on that were even bigger.
The Pulaski County Golden Cougar Marching band welcomed fans as they entered, playing some of their tunes and giving a festive pep rally kind of feel to the moment. The grills were on and cooking, offering a hungry fan everything from a good old fashioned hotdog or pizza, or you could really live it up and enjoy a hamburger, chicken poppers, a bratwursts, french fries or Mariner fries, or a grilled chicken sandwich with all the fixings. Of course you wouldn't want to go back to your seat without a pack of peanuts, or maybe some nachos or a pretzel. A cold drink is always something nice on these hot evenings as well. To top all that off, the grill will be serving pork BBQ during weekend games.
The teams started to warm up, but then came the rain and lightning. The storm rolled in quickly, and then just as quickly it rolled right back out. Dave Hart and his crew got busy on the field, and even though the rain put things behind no one seemed too mind too much. The food was fresh, and it was every bodies first chance to catch up after the off season.
The managers finally met at home plate, the National Anthem was played, and after a long cold winter and plenty of other tough times for our County, the umpire made the call the fans had been waiting for....."Play Ball!!"
While I wont go into the details of the game, as I'm sure that all of that covered in the actual game stories, there are some things I'd like to mention. First of all is the attitude of the team. With some groups of athletes, especially those that are supposed to be at the upper level of their chosen sport, you cant help but notice an attitude of entitlement. Not on this team. The young men under the watch of Field Manager Rob Mummau seem to be hard working, level headed, and very plain and simply nice guys. There really seems to be a "team" attitude in this years squad. The second thing I've noticed is the effort. At the welcome luncheon, Coach Mummau promised that if all else failed, this team would play hard. I would suggest that he is certainly getting that from his players. This team is fun to watch. There have already been some big and exciting plays, and I expect there will be plenty more to come.
Congratulations to everyone involved with the Pulaski Mariners organization on getting that first big win under their belts on opening night. Even though the rain tried to stop you at first, and then the cat on the field tried to hold you up later in the game, you put on a quality show for the entire New River Valley. Fans wearing hats and shirts with Graham Baseball, Radford Football, Carroll County, Fort Chiswell Pioneers, Christiansburg Wrestling, and all kinds of other localities sports teams were spotted at the game. They were there enjoying themselves, and they were helping out the Pulaski County economy by doing so.
We'll see you at the park, and if anybody happens to see that white cat that decided to give playing center field a try last night, go ahead and give her a little tuna or catnip for providing the extra entertainment.
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