Usually when a game is rained out, there are no winners. But on Friday night, there were actually 1,830 winners.
On a night the Brazos Valley Bombers vowed to break the league attendance record, rain couldn’t dampen the spirits of Bombers fans. The scheduled game against the Mineral Wells Steam was postponed because of field conditions, but with an attendance figure of 1,830, the Bombers shattered the league mark set by the McKinney Marshals just two weeks ago. The Bombers had first broken the record on Opening Night, June 8.
And the record crowd was certainly entertained. Despite the rainout, the two teams stuck around for a home run derby that brought the fans to their feet. Five Bombers squared off against five members of the Mineral Wells squad in a three-round derby. The finals saw the B’s Keith Stein and Doug Simmons face off against the Steam’s Brice Cutspec. Cutspec put on an exhibition in the final round, raining six home runs over the right field wall for a final total of ten. Stein, with his hat turned back a la Ken Griffey Jr., made a run at Cutspec with nine home runs, falling one short.
Captivating the crowd before, during, and after the derby was Reggy! the Entertainer, the self-proclaimed biggest, baddest, purplest party dude on the planet. Reggy! led a conga line through the ballpark and performed skits that had fans laughing and dancing all night long. He also had a special present for Cutspec, the home run derby winner. With the crowd watching, Reggy! – dressed as “Reggina” – performed a special dance number to a Barry Manilow tune, then planted a kiss on Cutspec for the finale.
Finally, after the announcement that the crowd was the largest in TCL history brought everyone to their feet, the coup de grace was another Fireworks Friday fireworks spectacular. Even though there was no game, no winner or loser, the Bombers fans still went home happy.
The perfect exclamation point to the evening came after the ballpark had cleared and all that remained was staff. The team was notified that the Coppell Copperheads had lost both ends of a doubleheader in Wichita Falls, dropping them in the standings and moving the Bombers into first place in the Speaker Division. Without even playing a game, Brazos Valley took over the division’s top spot, a half-game ahead of the Copperheads.
The Bombers will take to the road over the weekend, spending Saturday in McKinney before a Sunday doubleheader against the Denton Outlaws.
Following an off-day on Monday, the Bombers return to Brazos Valley Bank Ballpark on Tuesday and Wednesday for a battle of first place teams with the Wichita Falls Roughnecks. Both nights are Firemen Appreciations Nights, during which firemen who show their badge or ID receive a discount of one dollar on any ticket.