Baseball and Kernels is just Jill Tracey's thing

The gates opened at Memorial Stadium an hour before first pitch Sunday afternoon. As usual.

Jill Tracey was one of the first fans through those gates. As usual.

You won't find too many more dedicated Cedar Rapids Kernels fans than the Manchester woman. First off, did you read she's from Manchester?

That's a two-hour round trip, which Tracey makes somewhere around 20 to 25 times a summer. She's been a partial season-ticket holder since the newer Veterans Memorial Stadium opened in 2002.

“When the majors went on strike (in 1994), I got irritated at them,” said Tracey, who watched the Kernels drop a rain-delayed 9-7 verdict to Beloit as one of 2,817 fans. “So I decided I'd put my efforts into the local team.

“I enjoy baseball. I always have. And I have some baseball friends here. People that the only time I ever see them is at the ballgames. We have kind of a core group.”

You'll find Tracey behind the Kernels dugout, seven rows up on an aisle. She always has paper and pen in hand, which allows her to keep score.

She can't go to a baseball game without doing it.

“It holds my interest,” she said. “Otherwise you lose track and you don't know what's happening. It all goes in recycling when I get home, but I just like to keep score.”

And she likes to keep her husband at home when she comes to the ballpark. Well, she doesn't really like to keep David Tracey, a Manchester lawyer, at home.

That's his choice.

“He doesn't like baseball,” she said with a laugh. “I've offered to bring him, and he just says ‘No way.'”

Baseball is Jill Tracey's thing, the Kernels her team.

“I have his blessing to do this,” she said. “And he has mine in his activities.”

The Kernels (64-49, 24-19 second-half record) dropped their second in a row to Beloit (44-69, 17-26). The deciding game of this five-game series is today at noon.

It was a laborious three-hour affair that started an hour and a half late. Cedar Rapids got home runs from Roberto Lopez and Alexi Amarista to build a 3-0 lead, but Beloit scored three times each in ugly fifth and six innings against starting pitcher Ryan Chaffee (8-5) to rally and go ahead for good.

Marengo native and former Cedar Rapids Xavier prep Michael Harrington had four hits and four RBIs for Beloit. The Kernels scored four times in the ninth, having the tying run at the plate when the game ended.