Category Archives: May 2017

Blind Association to Host “Swing for Sight” Golf Tournament

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Blind Asso golf pic

Lackawanna Blind Association will host its 31st annual William J. Jordan, M.D., Memorial Swing for Sight Golf Tournament on Monday, June 19, at Glen Oak Country Club, Clarks Summit. Proceeds benefit Associations program.

For more information and reservations please call, 570-342-7613.

Planning committee members include, seated from left: Mary Lou Wascavich, Executive Director, and Noreen Burke, board member. Standing, same order, are board members, Fred Hickman, Jerry Musheno, Ron Leas, and Karl Pfeiffenberger.

Dunmore Freedom League Continues to Expand

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baseball-picBy

Steve Svetovich

The Dunmore Freedom League at Sherwood Park continues to thrive.

Charlie Ehnot, commissioner and founder of the Dunmore Freedom League, coached and managed for over a decade when it was known as the Collegiate Summer Baseball League (CSBL).

The name changed and now the Dunmore Freedom League enters its third year of summer baseball.

The summer season begins just after Memorial Day in early June and concludes at the end of July with playoffs. There will be at least six teams this season.

Most of the games are played at Dunmore’s Sherwood Park.

Charlie Ehnot, a Scranton Prep graduate, formerly coached his three sons – Marc, Jerry and Chaz – for 20 years in the Dunmore Little League and Teener League.

“I was looking for a league for my boys to continue to play in, so we started the Collegiate Summer Baseball League. I had the fortune of coaching my three boys in this league all over again.”

His son Chaz is now a player-coach in the Dunmore Freedom League. He and Mark Simko coach one of three Dunmore entries in the league. Honesdale, Old Forge and a group of former Scranton Prep baseball players who call themselves Varsity Pit Stop round out the current six teams.

Mark Simko played eight years in the league before becoming strictly a manager. His brother “Dirt” Simko was a key player in the league for several years and symbolized the gritty nature of most of the players.

Former Holy Cross and University of Scranton standout Anthony Duchnowski, now a Latin teacher at North Pocono High School, is one of the league’s constants and a star performer. He can’t wait every summer for the season to start.

All teams make the playoffs with the top two teams getting first round byes.

“There is a championship and a lot of good competition! but no trophy at the end,” said Chaz Ehnot. “This is all about the kids playing to stay active in the summer. It’s a supplemental work program that helps keep collegiate baseball players in shape. It helps keep their skills sharp.

“We are very proud of what we have done with this league and what we are going to do. We work hard to make this a classy field. We are trying to freshen it up and make it better.

“All the coaches, along with my dad as commissioner, take part in the schedule and mapping out of the league.”

Charlie Ehnot said local Eagle Scouts improved and enhanced the Sherwood Park baseball field through various scouting projects. One Eagle Scout was instrumental in the building of a new backstop.

You need to be at least 17 to play in the Dunmore Freedom League. There is no maximum age limit. Charlie Terrery played in the league last season at age 57. He played on the same Dunmore team as his son Alex.

Most of the players, however, are in the collegiate age bracket and up to 10 years above. The prime age seems to be 18 to 35.

There are no boundaries. You don’t have to live in Dunmore. You need to be competitive.

“The league is very competitive,” said Chaz Ehnot, “but we do play for fun too. We play for the love of the game. It doesn’t always have to be serious.”

Ehnot said the Dunmore Freedom League is actively seeking new teams and players. “We want to get this league to how it was before. We once had 10 teams and the local newspapers publicized the games. We think this league can get there again.”

Any player or team interested in joining the Dunmore Freedom League can call Charlie Ehnot (570-479-2289) or Chaz Ehnot (301-503-0131).

It is competitive hard ball at its best.

And the players in the league, who range from 18 to 58, love every minute of it.

Play Ball!

RailRiders’ Dustin Fowler Caps Cycle With Walk Off

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By Steve Svetovich

fowler

Credit: The Times Leader

Dustin Fowler does not get the notoriety of some of his Scranton Wilkes-Barre RailRiders teammates, but his hustle and “gamer” approach bring him in front of the pack.

It’s hard not to notice Fowler’s scrappy style and hustling nature.

And it was that approach that really shined Sunday, April 30, when he hit for the cycle and totaled five hits, including a walk off home run in the bottom of the 11th inning to lead the RailRiders to a 7-6 win over Indianapolis.

Fowler hit his game winning shot to right field. His second double of the game moved teammate Tyler Wade to third base in the bottom of the ninth. Wade then scored on a wild pitch to tie the game.

Fowler, 22, a native of Dexter, Georgia, hit a single and scored in the seventh, doubled and drove in a run in the fifth and tripled and scored in the bottom of the first.

The five-hit game raised his season batting average to .293. He has three triples, five doubles and four homers while driving in 12 runs in the first 20 games.

Currently ranked the New York Yankees No. 8 prospect, Fowler does not get the publicity of his left field teammate Clint Frazier, but his production speaks for itself.

And if you know baseball and watch him play, it is easy to see a diamond in the rough.

Drafted by the Yankees in the 18th round of the 2013 June amateur draft, Fowler has quietly worked his way up the ladder to Triple-A performing well at every level. He consistently shows a combination of some power and speed while scoring runs, driving in runs and stealing bases.

Last season in. 574 plate appearances at Double-A Trenton, he batted .281, with 67 runs, 88 RBIs, 30 doubles, 15 triples, 12 homers and a .341 on base percentage. He also stole 25 bases for a second consecutive minor league season.

Fowler was raised in rural Georgia where dirt roads are abundant and traffic lights are few and far between. He hunts like almost everyone else in his hometown, but baseball has always been his passion.

He was more than happy to accept the $278,000 the Yankees offered him after he was drafted. After all, baseball is his dream.

Fowler, who bats and throws left, is a lean 6-0, 185-pounds. Swift on the bases, he also shows range in the outfield from his center field position.

He batted .333 with two triples in his second spring training with the parent club while rubbing elbows in the outfield with the likes of Brett Gardner and Jacoby Ellsbury. He certainly did enough to impress New York  Yankees manager Joe Girardi.

Modest yet confident, Fowler speaks in a bit of a southern drawl and he has the cowboy boots to fit the part.

But the main thing is he has made progress and performed well while moving quickly up the ladder. At press time, he had hits in 11 of his past 12 games. He has shown a knack for hitting in the clutch and appears to thrive in those situations.

It may not be too long before we see this young man in New York Yankees pinstripes.

He certainly has the talent and the make up.