Force is with the Kernels

CEDAR RAPIDS - Few got into the spirit of Star Wars Night at the ballpark Friday night more than Katie Mulherin.

The Cedar Rapids woman, 23, and her family and friends were early arrivals at Veterans Memorial Stadium. She was the only one in her group, however, wearing a giant plastic stormtrooper head.

A big Star Wars fan, Katie?

“You could say that,” she said before the Cedar Rapids Kernels' 2-0 win over Peoria. “I do like the movies.”

Mulherin was pushing a button on the stormtrooper head to make her voice sound Darth Vader-ish. Someone pointed out to her it was a good thing it wasn't Lord of the Rings Night.

“Oooh,” she said. “Lord of the Rings. That would have been a whole different ballgame.”

There were tons of plastic light sabers throughout the crowd of 2,373 and even a couple of little girls dressed as Princess Leia. Photos of players were shown on the scoreboard with each Kernel wearing a Rebel Alliance helmet and each Chief a Darkside helmet.

The Kernels wore special dark blue Star Wars jerseys that were auctioned to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. And then there was one giant stormtrooper head.

“I found out it was Star Wars Night, so I figured I might as well wear this,” Mulherin said.

Starting pitcher Justin LaTempa (2-3) threw six shutout innings for the Kernels (24-24), backed up by his new piggyback partner A.J. Schugel. Daniel Tillman had been paired with LaTempa but is moving back to the bullpen, where he pitched last season and in college.

Dakota Robinson pitched the ninth for the save.

“That was our call,” said Kernels Manager Brent Del Chiaro. “Tillman's mechanics were deteriorating as the outing would go on. We were worried about his elbow. He was just doing some things mechanically that down the road could cause elbow problems.”

The teams play the second game of their four-game series Saturday night at 6:35.