The baseball season may have ended in the state tournament (or district tournament) for some teams, but area players are still lacing up their cleats and pounding their mitts.

Marple Newtown's Chris Orlando (pictured) knows this all too well.

He and his Delaware County teammates dropped a close one to Chester County, 9-7, Monday in the first round of the Carpenter Cup Classic. Their opening-round loss in the 16-team all-star tournament was Delco's seventh in nine years.

And the sweltering heat and humidity at UPenn's Meiklejohn Stadium only made matters worse. Said Sun Valley catcher Joe Maloney, who strapped on his equipment for six brutal innings: "I've played in some hot ones before and this one, wow, it was the first real hot one of the year."

The game offered a chance for younger players, like junior shortstop Ronny Tanner of Haverford, a first chance to play before major-league talent scouts and college coaches. And here's a preview story for Monday's game (sorry for the belated post).

Also in the Carpenter Cup, the Catholic League franchise, which features six players from Delco schools, will open its play Wednesday in a 9 a.m. game at UPenn. Monsignor Bonner's reps are Conor Kerins, Rob Benedict and Lou Tomasetti. Cardinal O'Hara has Bill Pace, Tom Coyle and Mike Baselice on the team.

Let's hope the weather cools off by gametime.

Two seasons ended while two more are extended following Tuesday afternoon's playoff games.

Sun Valley and Marple Newtown, the first and second Delco teams to ever make a state-baseball final, both qualified for the state tournament with wins Tuesday. In fact, the two will face each other in Thursday's District One Class AAA final.

Monsignor Bonner's fall in the Catholic League title game wasn't without a solid effort from Conor Kerins, pictured, who was lifted by coach Joe DeBarberie after five-plus strong innings. He gave everything had against St. Joseph's Prep, which looked like one of the strongest teams I've seen all season.

In the Class A bracket, Delco Christian lost to Morrisville on a walk-off grand slam in the eighth inning.

Sorry for the recent lack of blogging, folks. Life's been busy, but that's nothing new.

Here's what's up in Delaware County:
Unless you've been living in a cave the last two months, you know Conor Kerins is the talk of the town. The Monsignor Bonner left-hander has been on fire. He's posted a 6-0 record overall and a 5-0 mark against Catholic League opponents.

On top of that, he's averaging two strikeouts an inning and has stifled opponents with an ERA slightly above 1.oo. If he keeps up this pace, there's a good chance he could lead the Friars to their first Catholic League title since 1989. I've covered the CL playoffs before and a few years back, Conwell Egan won on the strength of one strong arm. But the Friars have three. They might be tough to take down.

Elsewhere in baseball:

• Two unlikely heroes - J.J. Sims and D.J. DiPaola - led Haverford past Ridley Tuesday.
• Dave Hallinan is single-handedly keeping Interboro in the Del Val League race.
• Nearly a month after it began, a darkness-shortened game between Haverford and Penncrest will finally conclude Thursday.
  
  
  A WEEKEND AT THE PENN RELAYS
  For the baseball fans out there, please understand that we at the Delco Times are giving some love to track, too.
  
  And the Penn Relays are always a good time.
  
  In case you missed it last weekend, a couple individuals and teams from Delaware County had a good go of it at Franklin Field at the University of Pennsylvania.
  
  Penncrest pole vaulter Jerry Thompson, pictured, had trouble clearing 14 feet, 9 inches and placed eighth in the championship flight. And Chester's Martin Soloman came in 18th in the 400m hurdles final.
  
  For a pair of Cardinal O'Hara jumpers, Steve Werner drew the short straw and Jason Johnson came up an inch short. Werner's long jump scores were miscalculated and he missed out on the championship flight. Meanwhile, his teammate, Johnson, in the triple jump, was an inch off of qualifying for the title run.
  
  Delco had a winner, though: Chester's girls 4x400 relay team topped the field in the Philadelphia Area final, outrunning eight other teams in the process. Kudos to the foursome.
  
  I made a promise earlier this year, a vow to blog more frequently. I will make good on that, starting ... ... now!