Banana Ball Hartford – CLowns vs Party Animals
What was originally supposed to be my birthday celebration before there was actual birth-day things to do was the Party Animals and the Clowns playing in Hartford the weekend after my birthday.
Thursday I made my way up to a hotel a few blocks away from the ball park, met up with a friend, found out 2 others bailed out last minute and we opted to stay parked at the hotel and walk to the plaza. At 3:30 the Clowns came out for their entrance and we made our way into the plaza. A cool thing they do at Clowns headliners is they give out “old timey” hard tickets for the game which as a scrapbook and ticket collector, of course I loved.
First we stopped to see Clark, then Fisher and then I tried to find a bunch of my fellow July babies so we could have a little birthday celebration. For this game we had BBB which meant we got to go on the field to meet the teams before the game. My friend had gotten us all water about 5 minutes before we were getting ready to go back, only for us to be told that there were no food and drink allowed on the field and we couldn’t even promise to keep it in our bags whether it was just water or not. (Later, the crew watered the field so I mean we could have given them a head start? But not like I was planning on dumping my water on purpose, it was HOT!) The Clowns also dropped off a birthday gift bag for me which was really sweet – literally and figuratively. (It was candy!)
For this game the first inning both teams scored 1 run (Party Animals on a TJ Reeves HR!) so no points were awarded. In the 3rd the Clowns scored their first run for a point on a Jalen Vasquez home run, but the Party Animals answered back in the 4th. In the 6th the Party Animals took a lead but in the 8th the Clowns tied it up 2-2. In the top of the 9th Chase Achuff hit a Home Run once again giving the Party Animals the lead. That was followed up by Bryson Bloomer fouling out to a fan and no other runs were scored for the Party Animals. In the bottom of the 9th, Vava put in Drew Gillespie to close. Last season he would have been my #1 pick to be the closer but not so much this season. I was nervous – and rightfully so. Eli Paton hit a single to start the inning, JBJ came in as the Golden Batter and singled and then Joe Gray Jr hit an RBI single to tie it up. JBJ ended up coming up again and walked it off. Clowns won 4-3. This was a hard loss to take.
Friday I went to the game with my friend since 1st grade, her daughter, her dad and her brother and nephew. Her and her daughter had also gone to Yankee Stadium so they sort of knew what they were getting into and came prepared with an autograph book. Before the game we met as many players as we could for the kids and then we made our way in for the game. The Party Animals scored 3 off Gage Voorhees in the 2nd and the clowns only managed to score 1 so the Animals took a 1-0 lead. In the 4th the party animals scored 1, but the clowns had a walk off thanks to Eli Paton’s home run and tied it up. Dale Francis Jr had a walk off in the 6th making it 2-1 and Niko Hulsizer had a walk off in the 7th making it 3-1. While once again the Party Animals scored 1 in the 8th, the Clowns scored 2 on a JBJ Walk Off and the Party Animals lost 4-1. After the game we stopped to say goodbye to a few of our new friends and headed back up to the hotel.
Saturday my friend met me to go to the Dunkin appearance first. In addition to Peanuts, Gilmore, Skole and Bloomer there also was a Dunkin Cup, DunKing and Chompers from the Yard Goats in attendance. There weren’t as many people there as I would have expected and we were able to chat with everyone for a bit and I was able to brag on it being my 50th Banana Ball game (since 2023) We got a Dunkin pennant signed and some gift cards as well as free logo donuts! They unfortunately did not have any of the player face donuts. Chompers liked my hair, realized it was Party Animals colors and also didn’t know why I was wearing a Clowns shirt. After Dunkin we hung in the hotel watching the Bananas game from the night before until it was time to head to the final game of the series!
I was really hoping that the Party Animals would be able to pull off a win. I knew Bret Helton would be pitching for his birthday and knew that would give them a good chance. The Party Animals scored 4 int he 1st thanks to a trick play miss double for Reece Hampton and a Home Run from Tanner Thomas. However, things got iffy when the Clowns scored 3! But the Party Animals took the quick 1-0 lead. The Party Animals also took the 2nd thanks to a 2 RBI Double for Andy Cosgrove. Joe Lytle, complete in a Whalers jersey, got the Clowns on the board in the 3rd with a home run after a brass bonanza walk up. Jake Skole fouled out to a fan in the 4th, but the Party Animals still took the inning with 3 runs making it 3-1. In the 6th the Party Animals once again scored 4, thanks in part to a Bigg Bo Home Run. Tanner Thomas hit another home run in the 8th, which ended up being the final inning and after scoring 4 runs the Party Animals were victorious 8-1. After we hung around basically until the plaza closed up so we would have some time to pick on / say hi to Clark. Eli Paton also gave me a signed banana ball for my birthday which was really sweet!
It was a blast of a weekend and it was nice to have them so close to home, even if I did end up in a hotel anyway. Much easier than driving the hour there and back every day!