Lightning Strikes Twice - The last season when Jamestown and Kenmore West met in football it was a Section 6 Class AA semifinal game at Crosby Field. The game was tied 7-7 at halftime, then early in the second half the Red Raiders scored three touchdowns in less than 3 minutes en route to a 33-7 win.
The teams played at Strider Field last Friday night and Kenmore West was again the victim of a Jamestown points explosion.
After Kenmore West took an 8-7 lead in the second half, the Red Raiders regained the lead 25 seconds later and went on to score 20 points in about six minutes.
When playing the Red Raiders in the future, Kenmore West will always be wondering when the Jamestown point explosion is going to happen.
- - -
Baseball Rarity - Hitting for the cycle is rare, but doing it twice in a season is even more rare.
Only four players have ever hit a single, double, triple and home run in a game twice in a season. Two were in the 1880s and the third was Babe Herman for the Brooklyn Robins in 1931.
The fourth was Aaron Hill of Arizona, who did it twice in June. On Tuesday night, Hill came within a triple of becoming the first player in major league history to do it three times in a season.
That would have really been something, but two in a season isn't too shabby. Hitting for the cycle is often compared to pitching a no-hitter. There have been 294 cycles and 278 no-hitters in the major leagues.
- - -
Double Duty - It was only appropriate that the Jamestown Jammers ended their New York-Penn League season on Wednesday with a doubleheader. Because of rainouts at home, Jamestown ended up having seven twin bills.
While the Jammers were trying to hold onto third place in their division, which they did, the Wednesday games did have postseason implications for the Batavia Muckdogs. They were still in the running for a division title or wild-card berth, but that ended when the Muckdogs lost the opening game.
Usually the final game of the season, if it involves teams not heading to the playoffs, goes rather quickly because both teams, the umpires and just about everyone else involved simply wants to finish the season. Wednesday's doubleheader followed that trend as the first seven-inning game lasted one hour and 33 minutes and the second was one hour and 30 minutes.
I'll never forget a season-ending game in the early 1980s that was scheduled at 1 p.m. on Labor Day. The Jamestown Expos and their NY-P League opponent were both low in the standings. There was not much interest in the meaningless game and I discovered that for sure early in the morning.
I had headed to work at 3 a.m. to work on Gridiron, The Post-Journal's annual high school football magazine, and was hoping get as much done on the project as possible that day. I was not looking forward to ''taking a break'' to cover a baseball game in the afternoon.
Around 7 a.m. there was a short rainstorm and I was hoping it would last longer to possibly cancel the Expos' game. By 8 a.m. the rain had stopped, the sky was clear and it appeared things would be fine for a 1 p.m. baseball game. But for the heck of it, I drove to then College Stadium to find out the status of the game.
Much to my delight, I learned the 1 p.m. game had already been called off. And not only was it called off at 8 a.m., but the Expos' manager was already on the road driving back to his home in Michigan!
- - -
Crimson Flood - The Alabama football team moved into the No. 1 spot on the Associated Press football poll this week. And that's just one place where the Crimson Tide has a No. 1 team.
This week the Golf World/Nike Golf Coaches Polls came out and the Alabama men's golf team is ranked No. 1 there. And not only are the men No. 1, but also the Alabama women's team.

