Salisbury Press

Bryce Fairclough is recovering from a grade two ankle sprain he suffered in the first game of the summer season. He may not be 100 percent recovered from that injury just yet, but he remains focused on improving his game on the court

As one of just three returning players who played consistent varsity minutes last season, and the only one in the Falcons' front court, Fairclough will be relied upon to help lead this team throughout the summer months.

So far, the Lehigh Valley Legion season has been a tough one for the Salisbury Falcons. The young team is currently 2-5, three games behind league leaders North Parkland (5-2) and Emmaus (5-2).

In an all-star game, most people expect a heavy explosion of offensive.

And while that was that case, at least for one team, it was the dominant outing of the Colonial League and Mountain Valley Conference's pitching staff that stole the show on Saturday, June 7 in the 29th Annual Howard E. Deppe Senior All-Star Baseball Classic at Limeport's Fegley Stadium.

Salisbury boys' soccer head coach Mark Allinson entered his CSG Falcon team into Group B of the Men's Junior Division in the Lehigh Valley Summer Soccer League to face a number of competitive teams across the area that they are not too familiar with.

After the first week of play at Lehigh University Fields at Goodman Campus and Stabler Arena, the CSG Falcons have made the most of their experience. They currently sit at 2-1 after Friday's loss to New Tripoli Bank FC, 2-1, in overtime.

Each Memorial Day weekend Penn State University holds its annual Super Regional AAU Happy Volley junior girls club volleyball tournament. This year Penn State hosted 440 different junior girls volleyball teams ranging in age from 12 to 18 years old and hailing from both the United States and Canada.

Emmaus-based volleyball club Push The Rock sent 14U, 15U and 16U teams to compete at the Happy Volley tournament.

Push The Rock 15 White, PTR's 15U team, ended up having a remarkable weekend.

During his career at Salisbury, only once has basketball head coach Jason Weaver had to replace his starting five players heading into the following season.

Weaver is facing that challenge once again as the Falcons begin preparation for the 2014-15 season. And that rebuild process begins in the Stellar Summer Basketball League.

Jon Benitez is familiar with a number of the players on the West Allentown legion baseball team.

When Salisbury faced West Allentown on Friday, perhaps there was some extra motivation for Benitez. He came through with the game's biggest play when it mattered most.

Last year's Salisbury baseball team finished with the third-best record in the Lehigh Valley Legion Baseball League with a 13-5 campaign before falling to North Parkland in the playoffs.

However, as the Falcons began legion play on Sunday, things look completely different from last year's squad in a number of facets.

The FC Lehigh Valley United Sonic faces a tough task when it opens play in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup next Wednesday. Sonic will travel to Portland (ME) to take on GPS Portland Phoenix of the PDL next week in a task that head coach Dave Weitzman understands will be a difficult prospect.

"We really are at a disadvantage because they're starting this tournament earlier than usual because they've allowed more teams in the tournament," Weitzman said. "We won't have most of our guys because they're still in college. Playing on the road makes it that much more difficult."

Thanks to a few days of warmer weather, this year's trout opener that kicks off March 29 in 18 southeastern counties, should not have snow covered banks if they get direct sunlight. The remainder of the state has an April 12 opening.

This year, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission will have stocked 3.2 million trout in 731 streams and 124 lakes (like Leaser in Lehigh County). Of that total, 2.01 million are rainbow trout, 647,000 are brownies and 527,000 are brookies.