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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1989-06-28, Page 21THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 1989. PAGE 21. Slo-pitch the popular sport of summertime BY USA BOONSTOPPEL It’s not a real exciting game to watch. The ball is usually hit and The first year, they had 12 teams including teams from Belgrave, Londesboro and Auburn. Participa- Ouch! Although this second base player seems like he wants to take the head off this runner, slo-pitch is a game where friends can meet and have fun. This is one of the reasons slo-pitch has become the most popular summer sport in Blyth and Londesboro. isn’t fast. Yet, it has become the most popular summer sport in this area. The game is slo-pitch. Over 450 people play slo-pitch in the Blyth and Londesboro area on both women’s and men’s teams. There are about 15 men’s teams in Blyth while Londesboro has eight men’s teams and two women’s teams. The phenomenon of slo-pitch started in 1983 in the Blyth area when the men’s slo-pitch league was started. “We were finding that many people were dropping out of fastball because it’s such a pitch­ er’s game, and there weren’t enough teams to have a fastball league so we wanted to start slo-pitch,’’ said John Stewart who was one of the six men that “got the ball rolling.” spring, Londesboro broke away from the Blyth league to start their own leaving Blyth with about 15 teams and Londesboro acquired eight. The popularity of the sport is partly due to the fact that anyone can play slo-pitch, said Mr. Ste­ wart. “You don’t have to be great to play,” he said, “an average player can contribute as much as a good player can.” As well, every player on the team gets to play said Neil Salverda the recreation co-ordinator for Hullett township. “In slo-pitch you go through the whole batting order so more people participate in the game,” he explained. Another reason for its popularity may be how teams get started. If a bunch of friends want to start a team they can if they have enough Institute hears about municipal government Twenty-seven members and guests attended the Majestic W.I. meeting on June 14. The president Edna McLellan opened the meeting in the usual manner. Doris McCall read the minutes of the last meeting, treasurer’s report and correspondence. An invitation was given to join Walton W.I. on June 21 at 8 p.m. to hear Julie Lee, from Survival Through Friendship House, speak. Two carloads of members planned to attend. Discussion was held on the computer system in the Brussels Library but no discussion was made. A donation will be made to send a child to camp. Funfest hospitality area is to be held at the vacant lawyer’s office with souvenirs, B.B.Q. tickets and registration to be taken by Majestic W.I. Every member is to donate cookies. A discussion was held to also have a bake table. The Committee for the float includes Kathy Bride, Leona Arm­ strong and Edna McLellan. The committee for the booth includes Leona Armstrong and Doris Mc­ Call. The bake table committee is Alice Brothers. Quilt tickets are on sale for a quilt, with the draw being made on Funfest weekend. The next meeting for Funfest is on June 29 at 8 p.m. at the arena with interested members going. Dorothy Steffler and Alice Mc- Arter were the convenors this month. Peggy Cudmore gave the motto, “How to help your W.I. grow”. She spoke on why the W.I. isn’t going even though we keep up on modern issues, have informative topics and read some articles out of the Independent relating to the Women’s Institute. Dorothy Steffler introduced the guest speaker Ruth Sauve. Mrs. Sauvb spoke on municipal govern­ ment and pointed out a number of times how just one vote changed our history. She said to join associations and get involved to make changes. Mrs. Steffler thank­ ed the speaker. Roll call, “How I happened to join the Women’s Institute”, was answered by the members. Some had incidents which led up to becoming members and all being happy that they had joined. A floor plan was distributed to members of the Huron County Museum in Goderich, where the “institute will be visiting in July. Pennies for Friendship were collected for the number of years of belonging to W.I. Sunshine collec­ tion was also taken up. Happy Birthday was sung to members. Jessie Engel, our oldest member will be 93 on June 16. players. Dave Pattison, who is active in slo-pitch says his team is a group of friends and it is “more important for us to have fun than to .win.” However, he explains, slo-pitch is very diversified. “There are some teams that get out once a week and are out there just for the fun and there are also teams that are really competitive and play in tournaments once a weekend.” This range adds to the games popularity as those fun-loving and those out to win both find satisfac­ tion in the same sport. There is also variance in ages on slo-pitch teams. Mr. Stewart said that age was an important factor in slo-pitch popularity in comparison to fastball where once you get older, you usually drop out. The age difference is apparent in the Blyth men’s league where one team has an average age of 30 (Blyth Inn) and the Classics are mostly under 20. Another aspect of slo-pitch which draws players are the tournaments. “If you wanted, you could play in a tournament every weekend,” said Mr. Pattison. The tournaments are usually sponsored by beer compan­ ies that provide prizes. There are also substantial cash awards to be won at these tournaments. “With so many slo-pitch teams it’s not hard to fill a tournament,” said Mr. Stewart who says they are really easy to run. “You don’t need professional umps for slo-pitch, quite often players from teams will ump games,” he said. The annual tournament held in August in Blyth has made it possible for the Radford Diamond to be fixed up. “We’ve held the proceeds from the tournament in trust for the past five years which now amounts to about $18,000.” With this money and money from the town, the Blyth league will put in fence, sod and lights. So, though it may not be as exciting to watch as fastball, slo­ pitch has emerged as the swinging sport of summer. Sports Blyth Squirts edge Belgrave It was a close game between the Blyth and Belgrave Squirts on June 26 when the visiting Blyth team beat Belgrave, 16 to 15. / Belgrave was winning in the first inning with a one run score but Blyth scored eight runs in the next four innings to Belgrave’s five giving them an eight to four lead. The sixth inning had plenty of fast action as Belgrave brought home eight runs. After this heavy score, they were only trailing Blyth by one point since Blyth only scored five runs. It was the seventh inning that decided the game as Belgrave just couldn’t outscore Blyth. Both teams hit three runs, giving Blyth the win. Belgrave had tough pitching, striking nine Blyth players out and Blyth had two home runs from Andrew Wharton and Mike John­ ston in the sixth inning. What's the call? Andrew Wharton of the Blyth Squirts confidently walks away from the plate assuming the Belgrave runner is out buta Belgrave team mate hopes the umpire sees differently. Belgrave lost to Blyth, 16 to 15. Paid deputy fire chief turned down for Wingham The suggestion to hire a deputy fire chief to provide backup for Wingham Fire Chief Harley Gaunt was quickly dismissed by the Wingham Fire Board at their June meeting. A letter from Chief Gaunt stated that as of the end of this month, he is the only available officer in the Wingham station to answer calls during the daytime hours. Deputy Chief Lynn Hickey is employed by the Wingham and District Hospital while District Captain Keis deVries works in Listowel. Junior officer Kevin Hickey is unavailable during daytime hours and the depart­ ment’s junior officer, Dave Bourne announced his intention to step down from the department at the end of this month. Chief Gaunt stated that this puts the load on one person. He maintains that he will be unable to attend any department functions that pertain to fire prevention and safety outside of Wingham, con­ duct fire inspections outside the town, nor attend the Ontario Fire College. Following a brief committee of the whole session the board decid­ ed to have Chief Gaunt approach Bill Doig of the Gorrie station to see if he might be available to come to Wingham if the chief were out of town and the deputy chief could not be available in the event of a fire call. FITNESS SWIMFAMILY SWIMPUBLIC The Fire Board felt that with their present budget they could not handle the hiring of a full-time deputy chief. Norm Failes said the department should try to solve the problems internally. Wayne Riley added that they should “still work on training their own guys.” . JULY & AUGUST TOTS SWIMS Fri. 1 - 2 Tues. A Thurs. 4-5 Monday Nite 6:30 - 7 MOMS, POPS & Mon. - Wed.' SILVER SUNSHINE HOUR 1 - 2 Tues. & Thurs. SWIM Tues. A Thurs. 6-7 Sunday Nite 7 - 8:30 2 - 4 every day