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Times-Advocate, 1983-08-17, Page 8Pbge 8 Times -Advocate, August 17, 1983 Sports Spotlight By Ross Haugh • A real battle After some 115 games have been played in a major league baseball season, most of the pennant races should be down to two or possibly three teams. That's not the case in the American league eastern division this year with five teams still in contention and only one and a half games separating the fifth place Toronto Blue Jays from the Detroit Tigers and Baltimore Orioles who are tied fur first place. After losing eight of nine games, a lot of Blue Jays supporters were beginning to believe their bubble had burst. But, they forgot to tell Bobby Cox and his players. They refused to give up on the weekend and bounced back to take three straight from the Milwaukee Brewers. At a Jays dinner in Toronto Thursday noon, many of the fans were asking what had happened. Paul Molitor of the Brewers said he knew the Toronto club would bounce back. Molitor added, "I just hope we are out of town before the Jays get out of their slump." That didn't happen and the Brewers find themselves one game out of first due mainly to the three game winning streak of the Jays. We took a quick look at our predictions of March 23 and find we picked Milwaukee, New York and Toronto in that order in the American league east. Those three teams are in the thick of the race with the only problem at the moment being that the other two clubs Detroit and Baltimore are tied for first. The Jays are away on a very crucial 14 game road trip which pits them against the pesky Cleveland In- dians who have been delighting in upsetting the front runners, Boston, Baltimore and Detroit. Fans like this reporter who have joint allegiance for the Blue Jays and Tigers should be making plans to take in the September doubleheader in Toronto between the two clubs. The first game starts at 5:30 p.m. Tickets will be grabbed up early and should be at a premium by game time especially if both clubs are still in the pen- nant race and that is a distinct possibility. The Blue Jays in their last three wins over Milwaukee were certainly doing it the hard way. Sunday, they left the bases loaded three times without scoring a run. Against Milwaukee the keys were good pitching from the starters and the bull pen, great defensive plays, speed on the bases and the uncanny hunches of manager Bobby Cox. Lloyd Moseby, Dave Collins and George Bell were great in the outfield. In recent weeks, Cox has used unusual strategy. Sometimes he goes strictly with the book on his platoon- ing system and the next minute he might just go on a hunch and in most cases his guesses have been right. His main strength in recent games in the bull pen have been lefty Dave Giesel and right hander Joey McLaughlin. For an example Sunday Dave Stieb battl- ed through eight innings holding the Brewers to a single run, but when the Jays went ahead in the bottom of the eighth Cox elected to go with McLaughlin and he responded with three straight outs. Saturday it was Dave Giesel coming on in a tough situation and doing a very credible job. The Jays continue to be the only major league baseball team that has gone undefeated in the extra in- ning games this year. The Jays have won all eight con- tests that have gone into overtime. Jays shortstop Alfredo Griffin is continuing his iron man role and has now played in more than 300 con- secutive games. in 1982 only Griffin; Dwight Evans and Toby Ilarrah played in every game of the season. In a sidelight to the infamous Dave Windfield sea gull case in Toronto, a New York man has designed a T-shirt with pictures of George Brett and Dave Windfield and he calls it Tar and Feathers. More tournaments Ball tournaments to completed the season for the Usborne Minor Baseball As,ociation are continuing this weekend. A pee wee girls tourney will be held in Cromarty Saturday while the same day atom teams will he participating in Hensall. On the just concluded weekend, Huron Park and Crediton won the wo championships in the pee wee boys division. Lad;es fastball tournament The Edgewood Penguins are hosting a ladies fastball tournament at the Granton ball park for four days from August 18 through 21. A total of 16 top notch teams from Southwestern Ontario will he competing. The tourney starts Thursday, August 18 with Usborne township meeting Nelson Park at 7:30 p.m. and L.M.S. Rackets taking on the host Edgewood Penguins at 9 p.m. Three more games will be played Friday night. At 6:30 p.m. it's Stratford against Blanshard with Clark Equipment meeting Sarnia Swat at 8 p.m. and Blyth tangling with the London Oldtimers at 9:30 p.m. The preliminary round will be completed Saturday morning with Elgin Express and Goderich in action at 8:30 a.m.; Moore Centre meeting Union at 10 a.m. and the St. Thomas Selects versus Forest at 11:30 a.m. The B final will be played Sunday at 5:30 p.m. with the A championship contest going an hour and half later. MATHERS MOTORS Chrysler - Plymouth • Dodge Dodge Trucks Bob Laramie 136 Main St N Bus (519) 235-1525 ,- Exeter, Ontario Res (519) 229-6678 NOM 1S0 Express eliminated Co -Op juniors win two Sunday to take north 'B' title The Exeter Co -Op juniors have won the northern divi- sion B championship of the Great Lakes senior baseball league and will meet the B winner from the southern division. Currently Byron, Strathroy and Thorndale are battling for that spot. Four games were involved in the north division playoffs this week. The juniors and the Exeter Express played a 3-3 tie Thursday night and didn't really accomplish anything, so a three game round robin was arranged for Sunday in- volving the two Exeter teams • and Walkerton. In Sunday's first game Walkerton edged the Express 4-2. The middle game saw, the Co-op juniors blast Walkerton 1-5 and in the nightcap the juniors eliminated the Ex- press by a score of 10-4. The opening game between PART OF TRIPLE PLAY — near home base was part Umpire Don Beaver gets play are Kevin Hern (23) This tag by pitcher Jim Guenther on a Walkerton runner of a triple play the Express pulled off in a game, Sunday. set to make the call while other Express players in the and Dave Hunt. The Express lost the game, however. DOWN AND OUT Exeter Express third baseman Kevin Hern (23) hits the dirt after being upended by a Walkerton player in Sunday's hardball action at the local diamond. Hern suffered a sprained ankle and is shown being carted off the field by Dave Hunt, Ken Pinder and Jack Chipchase. He returned to the second game the Express played on Sunday. Royals blank Sylvan Hodgins Rob Holden's leadoff single in the seventh inning broke up Exeter Royals pitcher Brian Hodgins' bid for a perfect game as the Royals edged Sylvan 2-0 in Southwestern fastball league play. The Royals opened the scoring in the second as Brian Hodgins walked and Al Lovell and Jeff Lindenfield singled. They scored their final run in the sixth as Barry Baynham walked and scored on Brian Hodgins single. Rob Holden went the distance for Sylvan allowing five hits while striking out four batters. Brian Hodgins struck out 14 batters and allowed one hit in picking up the win. The Royals travelled to Desboro on the weekend and came up with a win and a loss. They opened up against Oakville on Saturday morn- ing and came away with an 8-5 win. Brad Marsden started for the Royals and picked up the win allowing one run on two hits while striking out one bat- ter. Dan Heywood came on in relief pitching three innings allowing four runs on hit while striking out seven batters. Mike Desjardine led the hit ters with a triple and a single In the second game they lost 2-1 in nine innings to Pad dys from Hamilton. Yaddya opened the scoring in the seventh on a double am sacrifice fly. The Royals knotted the count at 1-1 in the bottom of the seventh as Cecil Nickle'. singled and scored as .Jell r –74111/e Yi)u (IOri.f ,tf)\ more 1Of ih(' - 1iOn 111 Lnn1v If)L th(� .11 he f)r('f1,lr('(I tt it I) the ( ,)r(' ,1i)(I ( On(('rr) ►err (I( t,lil ih,ll h,l'. built (nit r('f)ut,111(1(1 c)-?' Countpy u Flowers EXETER 235-2350 tosses one hitter Lindenfield came through with a clutch base hit to tie the score. In the ninth inning a leadoff triple and sacrifice fly pro- duced one more run for Pad- dys who held on to win 2-1. The Royals managed eight hits off the Hamilton pitcher. Dan Heywood and Barry Baynham each had two. He struck out seven batters in picking up the win Brian Hodgins allowed four hits while striking out 10 hatters in taking the loss. .The Royals played a doubleheader against the Lucan Astros last night, Tues- day. while Thursday they host the first place Poplar Hill team at 9 o'clock. The Royals team would like to thank Ron Bogart, .terry Maclean, the Exeter Co op, Exeter Firemen, Massey Ferguson, arena staff, Ausable Conservation, Labatt's and Ross Haugh for their help in making the re- cent tournament a•success. We are grateful for their co- operation in supplying us with the tubs, trophies and tables needed for the tournament. We would also like to thank the following companies for donating hats that were given out. Exeter Co-op, Agri Span, Harron ilardware, Cashway Lumber. Hill and Hill Farms, Huron Tractor, Massey Ferguson, Moses Farm Systems, l3ayfield Lumber, Karns Roofing, Akins Brewer Lumber, Manning Lumber, Beaver Lumber, Jack and Mare's, .John Ernewein and B and M Construction. Special thanks to Fred Cook and Paul McKnight for being tL,mre all weekend and for Fred who did much planning for the tourney. Mini -Sheds Summerfest Special 15% Off Regular Prices August 17-27, 1983 Example: 8x8 Cable Roof Utility Shed Reg. $529.00 Spec. $449.65 Other Sizes Available See You At Crediton Summerfest Ken McCann Enterprises Ltd. RR -2, Crediton 234-6401 the Express and Walkerton was featured by a very unusual triple play. It technically wasn't a triple play, but, three Walkerton runners were retired before the action stopped. A factualaccount of the tri- ple killing appears elsewhere on these pages. Three runs for each team in the third inning were all that were scored as the Express and the Co-op juniors battled to a 3-3 tie Thursday in the first game of the northern division B playoffs: Dave Atthill doubled to open the Express third, Ken Pinder walked, Brian Mercer singled, Scott Burton was safe on a fielder's choice as Pinder was at the plate and another fielder's choice by Kevin Hern produced the three runs. For the junior rally, Steve Pearce and Dave Woodward singled, Kevin Prager doubl- ed to score two runs and Doug Hoffman singled Drager across the plate. The only other Express hit off junior hurler Jeff Fuller , was a single by Kevin Hern. Singles by Dave Hayter and Jeff Fuller were the only other safeties allowed by Ex- press hurler Ken Pinder. Eac.. t,itcher recorded four strikeouts in the eight inning contest. In Sunday's first game, Walkerton scored three runs in the top of the seventh inn- ing to produce a 4-2 victory over the Express. The only other Walkerton run came in the second inning before the extraordinary triple play in the third whicfi killed off a visiting rally. Both runs for the Express came in the fourth inning as Dave Atthill walked. Dave Hunt singled and both scored as Doug Fairbairn cracked out a two -bagger. Southpaw Jim Guenther went the pitching distance for the Express and allowed on- ly two hits until the fateful seventh frame. In Sunday's game between the two Exeter clubs, Dave Shaw's first inning three run homer sending Jeff McKellar and• Kevin Drager home ahead of him spelled defeat for the Express. The juniors scored at least one run in every inning but the fourth on the way to their 10-4 triumph. In the second inning Steve Pearce singled with two out and scored on a similar hit from the bat of Jeff McKellar. Kevin Drager walked and scored the fifth junior run in the third as Doug Hoffman singled. In the junior fifth inning, Three runners out, few know how The Exeter Express turned an "extraordinary" triple play in Sunday's contest against Walkerton, and while it may deviate slightly from the accepted norm of such plays, it nevertheless resulted in three visiting players being ruled out on basically the same play. Unfortunately, the play in- volved so many players that even those involved aren't sure of the correct sequence 'of events. Adding to the con- fusion was the fact that third baseman Kevin Hern was in- jured on the play. The official scorekeeper's book should have looked something like this: 6-4-2-5-1-9-7-2. For those unfamiliar with scoring based on the numbers assigned to players on the field, here's how it worked: In the top of the third, the first two Walkerton batters reached base safely on a single and error, respective- ly, giving the visitors a man on first and one on second. The next batter grounded to shortstop Dave Hunt who threw to second baseman Ken Pinder to force the runner who had been on first. Because he was off at the crack of the bat on the ground ball, the runner from second headed for home, and upon seeing that, Pinder threw to catcher Randy Kraul. The runher stopped and Kraut chased him back towards third before tossing to third baseman Kevin Hern,. The runner turned back towards home and Hern tossed to pit- cher Jim Guenther who was covering at home and the lat- ter tagged the runner for the second out. Meanwhile, the batter, who was safe on first, had started towards second and Guenther threw to first baseman Jack Chipchase. The ball was out of reach and was picked up by right fielder Dave Atthill who was covering on the play. Atthdl picked up the ball and threw it to Hern, as the runner was now advancing towards third. The runner slid under Hern ( causing an ankle injury) and the ball scooted a way. Thereupon left fielder Glen Thurman picked it up and tossed to catcher Kraut, who tagged the runner out as he attempted to cross the plate. Confusing? Well, it pro- bably wouldn't have helped had you actually seen it. At least a dozen players and a similar number of fans saw the same play and •none of them has an identical story. Let us permit nature to have her way: she understands her business bet- ter than we do. - Michel de Montaigne (1533-92) IT'S TIME TO TALK BUSINESS! Visit us in Exeter Every Wednesday Representative: BRUCE GAGNIER ere the Federal Business Develop- ment Bank, and we can be one of your most important resource centres. We can lend you money, or provide loan guarantees and finance an increase in your business equity. And more! We offer a brain bank of experienced people, too. Come talk business with us, about financing, counselling, management training and government assistance programs. One phone call can bring it all to you. For an advance appointment call: 271-5650 (collect) or write: 1036 Ontario Street Stratford, Ontario 40 Federal Business Banque federate Development Bank de dbveloppement Your future is our guarantee. Canna" singles oy Doug Hoffman, Dave Hayter, Brian Horner and Joe Becker sent three more runs scurrying across the plate. In the sixth, Dave Wood- ward and Marty Bedard scored as the result of a single delivered by Al Gaiser and an Express error. In the Express first, Brian Mercer singled, was sacrific- ed to second by Dave Bogart and came home on Dave Hunt's single. Kevin Hern and Doug Fair- bairn singled in the Express sixth inning and came home on a Randy Kraut double and sacrifice by Dave Atthill and Glenn Thurman. The final Express run was notched in the seventh as Brian Mercer was safe on an error and scored as Ken Pinder singled and Kevin Hern drew a walk. Steve Pearce was the star- ting and winning pitcher for the juniors holding the Ex- press to six well scattered hits. 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