P-Nats play ‘potentially the final home game’ at Pfiztner

The only thing spectacular about the final game at Pfitzner Stadium was the Potomac Nationals 5-1 win over the Myrtle Beach Pelicans.

The team scored a three-run homer in the fifth, which was the game-winning hit. Other than that, there was no on-field good-bye, or firework show. That had been done the weekend before.

While the players were on the field during the final game, fans in the stands were talking about the team’s next move.

“Will they be called the Fredericksburg Nationals,” said a woman while sitting in her box seat. The Potomac Nationals are due to play in a new stadium next to Wegmans grocery store in Fredericksburg starting in April 2020. We don’t yet know what the team will be called, though we’re told the name and the look of the team will get a total makeover

Some of the fans we talked to said they would miss the Potomac Nationals at G. Richard Pfitzner Stadium behind the Prince William County Government Center, where they’ve called home since 1984.

“I have some of my best memories here, from when I used to come here with my dad, who passed away, and my brother in law,” said Ron Couch, of Fairfax County.

He sported a Prince William Cannons jersey to the final game. That was the name of the team before it was affiliated with the Washington Nationals, and changed the name to Potomac Nationals (P-Nats for short).

He doesn’t plan to follow the team to Fredericksburg. “I’d rather go to D.C. and see the Nats play. The traffic on [Interstate] 95 is better going north than going south,” said Couch.

The team store slashed the prices on remaining merchandise, and there was a line out the door. “I’m getting six hats,” said LaPointe Crismond, of Spotsylvania, who said she’s excited about the team moving closer to her home.

“The new stadium should be nice. There won’t be pools of water on the walkways, or dripping on your head [from the air conditioning units] at the concession stand,” she added.

The Pfitz is a dinosaur when compared to other Minor League stadiums. Owned by the county park authority and leased by the team, the Potomac Nationals finally found a way out, and a new municipal partner in the City of Fredericksburg which agreed last year to back a deal that would see the construction of its new stadium.

Preliminary site work is underway where the new stadium will go.

Following the final game at the Pfitz, the team’s regular game recap press release included the phrase “potentially the final home game at … Pfitzner Stadium…”