Tape measure night at Pates Park?

FROM KEITH GROLLER

I don't know who in the pressbox came up with the idea, but the perfect giveaway for Pates Park either tonight for the Colonial League semifinals or Thursday for the league championship doubleheader is a tape measure, preferably one adorned with the Patriots emblem.

You can bet the IronPigs PR people would have it already set up.

This would be an attempt at humor after what happened Monday night during the Lehigh Valley Conference semifinals when it was realized -- by Liberty's sophomore pitcher Erin Wilson -- that the rubber was at the incorrect distance from home plate.

The first LVC semifinal -- a 22-hit affair between Nazareth and Emmaus -- was evidently played at the wrong pitching distance as was the first two innings of the Easton-Liberty semifinal.

The correct distance is 40 feet -- at least for this year -- but the rubber was placed at 43 feet which is the college distance.

Next year, the PIAA will move it to 43 feet, which considering how the pitchers have struggled all season at 40 this year, could mean lots of high-scoring games.

But on Monday night, it was at 43 feet and who knows how long it has been at 43 feet at Pates, which hosts games at all levels from March through October.

It was an unfortunate oversight and a cause for embarrassment for a proud organization. I know Patriots president Joe Hoffman, a frequent commenter here on Groller's Corner, was very unhappy that this happened in what was arguably one of the biggest events the park hosts all season.

He has apologized on another online forum.

When you host things as long as Pates Park has -- it has been our high school sotball mecca for more than 25 years -- there is a tendency for some to take things for granted.

It happens. It shouldn't, but it does.

I know the people over there and I can assure you that the people involved feel badly about it and won't let it happen again. They are fortunate that few made a big fuss over the incident. Even Easton's Ed McIntyre, who has long expressed his dislike for Pates Park (a place where his teams have often struggled) wasn't overly upset although he did get in a few deserved shots.

As for the games tonight, they should be two dandies.

The first game at 5 offers a traditional matchup between two of the Valley's most successful programs -- two-time state champion Northern Lehigh and 25-time Colonial League champ Southern Lehigh.

The second game involves two programs who have really emerged on the scene in the last five years to a decade -- Palisades and Pen Argyl.

Krista Morrone, the Pirates ace, pitched her team to its first Colonial League title last year and is quite capable of doing it again.

It should be a good night and here's hoping that now that we're at the right length, the games go a little quicker and we're out of there before 10 p.m. because it's going to be quite cool by then.

You can follow along here on Groller's Corner for update as the night progresses.

FROM KEITH GROLLER