Catania Warriors Paternó Baseball Game. . . FINALLY!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

What better way to celebrate the day than to go to a Sunday baseball game!

The Catania Warriors Paternó

Kind of has that "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim" ring to it, doesn't it?

We left Malibu bright and early armed with new aerial reconnaissance gathered from a Google search of where we might find Warrior field for today's 10:00 a.m. baseball game between the Warriors and the team from Sala Baganza. We were also bolstered in our quest with some new information on directions, sort of, encrypted deep in the Warriors' website under the heading "Directions".

The "Directions" read: "Take SS121 from Catania headed towards Paternó, get off at the Val Corrento junction and follow the signs to Warrior Field driving towards Parco Zoo Sicilia. a.k.a., Etna Land."

Our First "Warriors Field" Sign

We drove about 5 km until we found our first Etna Land sign and another 5 km before we spotted this easy to see clue as to our destination. Another 3 or 4 km down the country lane and we found the second and last of the "Warrior Field" sign.

We FINALLY made it!!!

Ample FREE parking and no one was there to collect the advertised 3 Euros entry fee.

Warrior Field's

Concession and Souvenir Stand

ALWAYS find the key stadium facilities BEFORE you find your seats.

Laurie scored us two seats directly behind Home Plate

Best seats we've had at a game since we got tickets through Gayle and David's connection with Don Baylor, also behind Home Plate, at Boston's Fenway Park years ago.

Warrior Field

with Mt. Etna looming in the

Left Field Power Alley

Spacious at 99 meters (325 feet) down each line and 123 meters (404 feet) to straight away center field.

Laurie sporting her new Warriors cap

The Warriors' logo is an anemic looking cat?

Of course, she already was wearing a tank top that matched the hat.

The Warrior's took infield with several of their players and coaches barking out instructions in Cuban accented Spanish while Cuban music blared over the P.A. system.

"We picked out a winner here, Bobby!"

First Pitch

Inside, BALL ONE!

The Warriors' website clearly started a 10:00 a.m. to start the double header so, of course, this first pitch happened at 10:30 a.m.

IS THIS LEGAL? In the bottom of the second inning, with a runner at first, the Warrior batter asked the Home Plate Ump for a "Time Out" which was granted. The Sala Baganza pitcher did not realize that time was out and delivered a pitch. The Home Plate Ump declared No Pitch AND called a Balk thus advancing the Warriors' runner to second. The Sala Baganza manager came out for a clarification and was told that the balk was called because the picher threw a pitch to the catcher during a Time Out. No argument ensued as the manager just nodded and went back to his dugout. Again, IS THIS LEGAL?

A tight ball game through 2 1/2 innings with the Warriors leading 1-0, when the Warriors came to the plate in the bottom of the third.

The Pivotal Bottom of the Third Inning

Another "Time Out" and meetings broke out all over the field. The reason for the confabs was that the Sala Baganza pitcher was REALLY struggling. The bases were juiced and the hurler was wild!

The results of the two pitcher's efforts was eight Warriors' runs. Five, yes FIVE, of these runs came across the plate due to walks with the bases loaded!

The bottom of the Third Inning

took a long time!

Long enough that several Warriors' players got into the concession line to get a refreshment after the end of the Walk-A-Thon.

The seven inning game ended in a 10-0 victory for the Warriors!

Two Catania/Paternó pitchers combined on the shut out, holding the team from Sala Baganza to only three hits.

The Warriors knocked out 10 hits to go along with a bazillion walks.

IF on time, Game Two was scheduled to start in two hours so we decided it was a tad too warm to play two for us.

LATE UPDATE: This just in from Paternó, the Warriors won game two of today's doubleheader 12-6 to improve their record to 17-5 on the season, Sala Baganza drops to 12-12 on the campaign.

The Italian Baseball League's Serie A2 league is made up of 20 teams divided into two ten team divisions called Girone A and Girone B.

The Warriors are now in first place in Girone A with a two game lead over Rebecchi-Cariparma Piacenza. The squad from Sala Baganza is now in a four-way tie for fourth place in Girone A.

Paternó's Old Hilltop Plateau

We saw this plateau in the distance, so decided to investigate.

Part of the Paternó Plateau is in trouble!

What the heck is this?

A NEW Catholic Church in OLD Paternó?

The Ancient Paternó Community Cistern

Paternó's version of a Norman Castle

All in all, another GREAT day in Sicilia.

Not many of these left as we start our Grand Tour of Spain, Belgium, Scotland and England a week from tomorrow on Monday, June 29th!