South Defeats North In New York-Penn All-Star Game

Wappingers Falls, NY — Three Tri-City ValleyCats were present for the 2016 New York-Penn League All-Star game in Wappingers Falls, New York on Tuesday night. Hosted by the Hudson Valley Renegades, affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays.

Despite ValleyCats Taylor Jones, Enrique Chavez, and Chuckie Robinson not starting for the North team, they were all able to get in some playing time.

Chavez was solid in his relief outing, pitching a scoreless 5th inning despite giving up a leadoff double. Both Jones and Robinson failed to get a hit in their four combined plate appearances.

The host team Renegades were well represented, with ten players on the roster. West Virginia had seven players present, Mahoning Valley six.

And it was Mahoning Valley infielder Erlin Cerda that jumpstarted the South squad with a 3-run homer in the 4th inning. Cerda was later named the All-Star MVP.

From there the South stars took over, tacking on 4 more runs in the 6th inning. And after giving up 3 runs in the 1st inning, the South only allowed 2 to plate the remainder of the game. South would win by a final of 9-5.

Also, the New York-Penn League had it’s 2016 Hall of Fame induction prior to the start of the game. The class is no fluke no matter how you look at it. Jorge Posada, Dick Allen, and yes, Pete Rose, who will somewhat get his wish granted by getting into a Hall of Fame. Talk about making dreams come true.

Getting back to the ValleyCats and keeping with the All-Star game trend, it was announced that the 2017 All-Star game will be held at “The Joe” next August. It’s the first one to be held in Troy since 2008.