An All-Star Experience for the Ages!

The ValleyCats had the great pleasure of hosting the 2017 New York-Penn League Fan Fest & All-Star Game, August 14-15. Executives from Minor League Baseball, former NYPL greats and fans alike flocked to "The Joe" to get a look at future Major League stars, and share in a unique camaraderie we all know as baseball. Let's take a look back at the two-day event that brought thousands of people together to enjoy a special baseball experience.
The ValleyCats kicked off the festivities with the All-Star Fan Fest at the Riverfront Park in Troy on August 14th. The free-to-enter event started with a performance by Skeeter Creek, followed by the introduction of the New York-Penn League All-Stars on stage to the crowd. Then, national award-winning country act Eli Young Band hit the stage in front of a massive crowd!

A little over 2 hours later, the Eli Young Band thanked the crowd and parted ways, but the night was not over. Downtown Troy was electric and so the Cats organized a bar crawl with Slidin' Dirty, Footsy Magoos, Bootlegger's on Broadway and The Ruck and provided transportation to those NYPL executives and players who were staying at The Desmond.
The next day was the big day. It all began with the All-Star Luncheon at the Desmond Hotel & Conference Center, presented by TD Bank. It was an honor to have Hall of Famer and former NYPL great, Jim Rice, as our special guest to the event. Rice played for the Williamsport Red Sox in 1971 and batted .256 before he went on to become an 8-time All-Star and American League MVP in 1978.

Following the conclusion of the luncheon was a New York-Penn League executive meeting at The Desmond Hotel. At 4PM, the gates opened at Joseph L. Bruno stadium for an enormous crowd waiting to get in line to meet the All-Stars and have them autograph memorabilia, courtesy of UpgradeToComfort.com.

Fans were treated to a spectacular show of pure power for the NYPL Home Run Derby presented by Slidin' Dirty, featuring the Tri-City ValleyCats first basemen Jake Adams and OF JJ Matijevic. Adams, drafted in the 6th round out of the University of Iowa, led all of college baseball in Home Runs in 2016 with 29 and was the favorite to win it all. His stats before the All-Star break had him leading the NYPL with 8 homers, but he had competition. Jhailyn Ortiz of the Williamsport Crosscutters had 7 on the year and was Adams' biggest threat.

The first round saw 45 balls go over the fence, with Adams leading the way blasting 12 out of the park. The player who hit the second most was Matijevic with 9, a fan favorite. Only 4 of the 8 players participating were to move on to the next round. Jhailyn Ortiz (Williamsport Crosscutters) and Ulysses Cantu (Mahoning Valley Scrappers) joined Adams and Matijevic in the second round.
The second round had 41 balls leave the park and the hopes for a ValleyCats-only final round dwindled. Cantu and Matijevic tied with 9 home runs each. Jhailyn Ortiz drilled 11 home runs and Adams repeated with another 12 to advance to the final round.
Ortiz led off the final round with another 11 home runs, setting the bar high for Jake Adams. Luckily, Adams still had enough juice left to put on a show for hometown crowd. He wound up with 13 dingers, giving the fans one extra home run blast to cheer about than he needed to take home the trophy.

Fans saw a total of 110 home runs in a span of about 45 minutes. For each home run, Slidin' Dirty donated $10 toward the Michael J. Fox Foundation, and after everything was collected, including some raffle positions to shag balls, the 'Cats and Slidin' Dirty raised nearly $3,000!
The All-Star Game began shortly after the conclusion of the Slidin' Dirty Derby. Historically, the New York-Penn League All-Star Game has always been a close contest and this one was no different. The South team struck first in the 5th inning with an RBI single by Oscar Gonzalez of the Mahoning Valley Scrappers. The North squad came back in the 6th with a solo home run off the bat of Zacrey Law of the Hudson Valley Renegades.
In the 7th, the South team took the lead 2-1 courtesy of a solo home run by Tristan Gray (West Virgina Black Bears). The North quickly answered once again with another solo homer to tie it 2-2, this time by Colby Bortles of the Connecticut Tigers. Yes, football fans, Colby is Blake Bortles (QB-Jacksonville Jaguars) younger brother.

The floodgates opened in the 9th when the South scored 3 runs to go up 5-2. State College Spikes catcher Joshua Lopez drove in two RBI's with a single while Tristan Gray tacked on another RBI with a single of his own.
In the end, the South Team triumphed over the North in front of a sellout crowd of over 5,012 fans! A fireworks display for the ages followed the game that surely was the icing on the cake for a fantastic two days of baseball festivities.

The ValleyCats organization as a whole were very proud to be chosen to host the All-Star Game, and would like to thank the fans, the New York-Penn league, and Minor League Baseball for allowing us the pleasure of putting on this great event. The All-Star Game and Fan Fest were supported by a grant from Empire State Development's I LOVE NEW YORK program under the Market NY initiative.

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