1955 Tournaments

Saskatoon Optimist : Delisle, which had won the first two Optimist tournaments and reached the final in the third, was back on top with a 7-3 win over Langham in the final.  In an exhibition game, Saskatoon Gems edged North Battleford Beavers 6-5.  About 3,500 fans watched the holiday contests.

(June 23 )  Lacombe Tournament : Granum trounced the Central Alberta All-Stars 10-2 to win the top prize in the annual Lacombe Tournament.  65-hundred fans packed the bleachers for the final.  Carstairs Cardinals finished 3rd, ahead of Sceptre.

The White Sox bombarded Edmonton 20-0 then advanced to the final with a 4-3 win over Carstairs.  

Don Johnson and Bill Kucheran combined on a five-hitter in the final.  Sox salted away the win with a five-run 3rd inning, three coming on Steve Odney's homer.  Earl Ingarfield had 3 hits in 4 trips.  Frank Stone tossed a four-hitter in the semi-final victory over Carstairs.

Granum 4 Carstairs 3
Stone and Pung
Weremy and Abel

All-Stars 2 Granum 10
Pat Chapman, Guff Chapman, Megus and Martin
Johnson, Kucheran and Pung

All-Stars won a spot in the final with a 5-3 win over Sceptre as Charlie Morris scattered ten hits for the win.  

Gulley, Jacobson (2) and Grant
Morris and S Martin

In the opening round, Sceptre took a 5-1 lead after three innings and were never headed as they ousted Daysland 7-4.

McNabb, Simpson (8) and R Brown
Jacobson and Snyder

Catcher Dave Abel had three hits, scored three times and knocked in a pair as Carstairs upset Delisle 8-6.  Cy Ing's 8th inning triple plated the winning run.  Don Kirk went the distance for the win.  Max Bentley and John Sirota belted homers for the Gems.  

Coben, MacEwen (4) and Johnson
Kirk and Abel

Central Alberta All-Stars edged Great Falls 7-6.  Dave Martin went the distance for the win.

D Martin and S Martin
Gordy, Barnes (6) and Twite

Granum walloped Edmonton 20-0.  White Sox batted around in both the 2nd inning, when they plated six runs, and the 4th, when they added another ten runs.  Darwin Walkingshaw and Earl Ingarfield had homers.  Willie Walasko pitched a five-hit shutout.

Lakeman, Wynn (2), Stanoline (4) and Emberg
Walasko and Pung

Granum White Sox, Central Alberta All-Stars, Sceptre Indians, Carstairs Cardinals, Daysland, Great Falls Jet Liners, Delisle Indians, Edmonton P & G Motors

(July 14-16) Camrose Moose Lodge Tournament    Don Kirk fired a five-hitter and battery-mate Dave Abel belted a three-run homer  to lead Red Deer Dodgers to a 9-1 victory and first prize money of $800 in the Camrose Tournament.  Dodgers had 12 safeties and were helped by six Camrose miscues.  Del St. John, Red Deer shortstop, was outstanding for the winners with seven hits in eleven at bats over the two days. 

Red Deer 9, Camrose 1
Kirk and Abel
McGregor, Mussleman (6) and Broen

Dodgers made the final with a 13-3 win over Vauxhall.  The Jets, coming into the tourney with a 20-0 mark in league play, had a rude awakening against Red Deer who erased an early 2-1 deficit with a three-run 4th inning and cruised to the win under sunny skies and with temperatures near the 90-degree mark.   Camrose pulled off the upset of the tournament with a 9-1 semi-final victory over Beverely.  Terry Lomnes held the Drakes to just four hits while racking up 12 strikeouts. 

Vauxhall 3, Red Deer 13
Baker, R. Clelland (4), Kirkhoff (6) and Haugen
Gazely, Martin (4) (W) and Abel

Beverely 1, Camrose 9
Babiuk, Yeske (3) and Mullins
Lomnes and Broen

In operning round action, Vauxhall took advantage of four errors to top Battle River All-Stars 6-2.  Roy Clelland tossed a six-hitter for the win.   Al Charles allowed just eight hits in taking the loss. 

Vauxhall 6, Battle River 2
Roy Clelland (W) and Haugen
Charles and McLennan

Camrose Jubilee All-Stars blew a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the 9th inning but bounced back with a singleton in the 12th to edge the Eastern Alberta All-Stars 5-4.  The winner scored on an error. Jimmy Pon had been a hero for the Eastern All-Stars in the 9th driving in a pair of runs with a double and scoring the tying marker on a Camrose error. 

Camrose 5, E. Alberta 4
McGregor, Schneck (9) and Bertamini, Emmerling (2)
Simpson, R. McNabb (8) and Malik

Lefty Joe Weremy pitched and batted the Beverly Drakes to an upset 6-1 victory over the tournament favourites, the Granum White Sox.  Weremy tossed a six-hitter allowing just an unearned run while his three-run homer in the second inning proved to be the winning blow. 

Beverley 6, Granum 1
Joe Weremy and Mullins
Walasko, Johnson and xxx

Don Martin held Leduc Oilers to six hits as Red Deer Dodgers scored an 11-3 victory. Larry Kadatz and Ernie Ressler belted homers for the losers.

Red Deer 11, Leduc Oilers 3
Martin (W) and Umari
Resler, Kashuba (3) and Hamilton, Roberts (3)

Indian Head :  (July 14)  Notre Dame Hounds rallied for a 4-4 tie with Brandon Cloverleafs in the final of the Indian Head Tournament.  The contest was called at the end of nine innings because of darkness.  Each team received $700.  Hugh Carr went the distance for the Hounds while former Notre Dame student Les Lilley started for Brandon, giving way to Morley MacFarlane.  Carr allowed just four hits, two by Bill Cobb. It was Carr's second route-going effort of the day.  In the quarter-finals, he fired a six-hitter as the Hounds won 4-3. Notre Dame reached the final downing Regina Red Sox 9-3.  Cloverleafs tagged Riverside 12-1 as Mort Wright tossed a three-hitter.

Les Lilley, Morley MacFarlane and xxx
Hugh Carr and xxx

(July 15)  Camrose Tournament  :  Red Deer Dodgers, behind Don Kirk's five-hitter, won the Camrose Tournament with a 9-1 victory over Camrose Jubilee All-Stars.  Catcher Dave Abel highlighted the offense with a three-run homer in the 5th inning.

Kirk (W) and Abel
McGregor (L), Mussleman (6) and Brown

Red Deer advanced to the final trouncing Vauxhall Jets 13-3 in the semi-final.

Baker (L), R Clelland (4), Kirkhoff (6) and Haugen
Gazely, Martin (W) (4) and Abel

Camrose  took a 9-1 win over Beverly Drakes in the other semi-final as Terry Lomnes fired a two-hitter.  He fanned 12.

Babiuk (L), Leske (3) and Mullins
Lomnes (W) and Broen

In opening round action, Vauxhall Jets beat Battle River All-Stars 6-2 with Roy Cleland on the hill for the victory.  Gord Root had four hits for the Jets.

Roy Clelland (W) and Haugen
Charles (L) and McLennan

Red Deer Dodgers downed Leduc Oilers 11-3 in the opening round. Don Martin fired a six-hitter for the win.  Larry Kadatz and Ernie Ressler belted homers for the Oilers.

Martin (W) and Umarl
Resler (L),  Kashuba (3) and Hamilton, Roberts (3)

Camrose All-Stars shaded the Eastern Alberta All-Stars 5-4 in a 12-inning thriller opening day.  The Eastern crew scored three in the 9th inning to send the game into extra innings.  In the 12th, Palechuck doubled and scored on a bunt and an error for the win. 

Keith McGregor, Rod Schneck (W) (9) and Bertamini, Emmerling (2)
Simpson, R McNabb (L) (8) and Malik

Drakes had upset the 1954 Alberta champion Granum White Sox 6-1 in the opening round as Joe Weremy pitched a five-hitter and hit a three-run homer. 

Weremy (W) and Mullins
Walasko (L) and Johnson

The event ended with a deficit of more than $1,600 on revenue of $2,392.25 and expenses of $4,079.52, including $2,600 in prize money.  1090 $1.50 tickets were sold along with 808 at 75-cents, 235 at 50-cents and 135 at 25-cents. 

(August 5)   Lethbridge Rotary Tournament : The favourites took a beating in opening day action at the 5th Annual Lethbridge Rotary Tournament.  

Assiniboia Aces shocked the defending champion Spokane Builders 2-0 while the Foothills-Wheatbelt All-Stars sidelined the Fairchild Flyers of Spokane 7-5.  Granum White Sox topped Libby, Montana 6-1.   Worland Indians of Wyoming gained the remaining spot in the semi-finals beating the Sceptre-Delisle Combines 8-5.

Assiniboia's Paul Pearson shutdown the Builders on three hits.  The Aces scored the only run they needed in the first when Red Waterton doubled and scored on Gordon Skjervin's single.  Skjervin led batters with a double and two singles.

Pearson and Waterton
Bloomquist and Hinz

The All-Stars dropped behind 3-0 in the first inning but bounced back with a run in the fourth on Clarence Yanosik's single and two more in the fifth on an error and singles by Wes Rice and Greg Seastrom.  Three Flyer errors in the eighth allowed the All-Stars to plate the winners.

Gagne, Hatfield (8) and Sulzman
Burcher and Bugg

Earl Ingarfield drove in four runs with a double and two singles to lead Granum over Libby.  Willie Walasko tossed a three-hitter and had a shutout going into the ninth until Libby scored on a single and an error.

Fines, Marshall (8) and Loving
Walasko and Bogal

Worland erupted for five runs in the sixth inning to down the Bentley brothers' Combines.  Paul Stark, who pitched a no-hitter in the first Rotary Tournament in 1952, held the Combines to eight hits.  

Stark and Biron
Jacobson, MacEwen (6) and Grant

(August 6)   The Foothills-Wheatbelt All-Stars made history at the fifth annual Lethbridge Rotary Tournament.  The All-Stars became the first Canadian club to win the event in staging a stirring comeback to topple Granum 7-4 in the final and walk off with the $1,500 first prize.  

The Stars, down 3-0 after five innings, scored three in the top of the ninth to break a 4-4 tie and take the title.  Willie Yahiro was the star of the Stars.  The southpaw set down the White Sox on eight hits and fanned 10.  He also led the Stars at the plate with two doubles and a single and scored what proved to be the winning run.

Granum took a 2-0 lead in the first on a Jim MacDonald triple, Gordie Vejprava's single and an error.  The Sox added a run in the fifth on two errors, a single and a sacrifice fly.  The All-Stars roared back in the seventh to score four times and take the lead.  A walk to Dick Bugg, Clarence Yanosik's single, a walk to Floyd Gillies and Greg Seastrom's single produced two runs and a throwing error netted two more.  Bill Fennesey's eighth inning homer knotted the count at 4-4 heading into the final inning.

Yahiro led off the ninth for the Stars with a double.  After Marty Norman was given an intentional walk, pinch-hitter Benny Dann plated a run with a single to right.  Bugg's fly ball drove in Norman and Dann scored on a passed ball.  

The All-Stars reached the final with a 12-2 win over Assiniboia.  Jack Altman walked the first two men he faced but then settled down to hold the Aces to five hits while fanning 13.  The lefthander also knocked in three runs with a pair of singles.  Outfielder Johnny Klem, who made the most spectacular play of the tournament with a diving catch in the seventh inning which nearly resulted in a triple play, punched out a double and two singles.  Greg Seastrom had a double and a single.

Granum won a spot in the final with a 15-3 trouncing of Worland.  The White Sox scored four in the opening frame on two walks, an error and Earl Ingarfield's inside-the-park homer and never looked back.  Ted Bogal had three hits for the winners.  Joe Weremy went the distance for the win.

(September 3-4-5)   With six games in 48 hours, the Kalispell Chiefs wound up their season in a blaze of glory winning the Libby Labor Day Tournament with a 3-2 victory over the Spokane Georges in the final.  

"Playing his first games with the Chiefs, Tom Mulcahy, former Gonzaga University mound ace ... put on a display of pitching and hitting that has probably never been equalled or surpassed in Northwest Montana baseball circles. (The Inter Lake, Kalispell, September 6, 1955)

Mulcahy pitched a six-hitter and fanned 14 as the Chiefs, in their third game of the day, upset the tourney favourites in the championship game.  Ronnie Overby's three-run homer in the first inning accounted for all the Chiefs' scoring.  His blast, to far left field, followed an error allowing Bil Redmond on base, and a walk to catcher Keith Gustin.  Spokane plated single runs in the 4th and 6th frames.  Centrefielder Gil Kuhns had three hits and scored both runs for the Georges.  It was Mulcahy's second complete-game victory in less than 24 hours.

Omelia, Cossette (2) and Hinz
Mulcahy and Gustin

Chiefs were forced to take the long route to the title in the double elimination tourney.  They dropped their opener on Saturday evening, 4-3 to Libby as the Loggers overcame a 3-2 deficit with a run in the 8th and another in the 9th to win. Schneider tossed a two-hitter.  He walked eight and fanned 14.  Chiefs had taken the lead on Ronnie Overby's three-run homer in the 7th inning.  Tom Mulcahy's double was the only other hit for Kalispell. Noel Aronson took the loss, allowing 11 hits.

Schneider and Chalich
Aronson and Gustin

Keith Gustin and Mulcahy each scored three times and knocked in three as Kalispell trounced the St. Regis Warriors 16-5 Sunday afternoon for their first win.  Jim Sweeney, who went the route on the hill for the victory, had three hits and scored twice.  Fornall allowed 15 hits and walked 10 in taking the loss.

Sweeney and Gustin
Fornall and Bennett

Tom Mulcahy fired a four-hit shutout and set down 20 by strikeouts as Kalispell trounced Missoula AmVets 12-0 Sunday evening.  The righthander didn't allow an exta-base hit and walked just two.  First baseman Zip Rhoades drove in five runs with a triple and two singles.  Catcher Keith Gustin had three hits and scored a pair.  Chiefs exploded for four runs in the 7th and six in the 8th to salt away the victory.  

Mulcahy and Gustin
Fortune, Pleasant (8), Odegaard (8) and Walterskitchen, Fortune (8)

Monday afternoon, the Chiefs got another crack at the Libby Loggers who had dropped a 10-5 decision to Spokane Georges Sunday evening.  Tom Mulcahy's two-run homer in the 8th gave Kalispell a 6-4 victory.  Earlier, his 3rd inning blast had given the Chiefs a 4-3 lead.  Altogether, Mulcahy knocked in four runs and scored twice.  Noel Aronson scattered 12 hits to pick up the win.  

Shelton, Gehring (3), Schneider (8) and Chalich
Aronson and Gustin

With a break of a little more than an hour, Kalispell was back on the field Monday in a do-or-die effort against Spokane Georges. In addition to their win over Libby, Spokane had topped St. Regis 9-4 and Missoula 5-3.  Tom Mulcahy's 6th inning, two-run double was the difference as the Chiefs shaded Spokane 3-1.  Zip Roades' homer in the 5th had given Kalispell a 1-0 lead.  Georges scored their only run in the 9th on three singles.  Wilson Managhan, youngest member of the Chiefs' staff went the distance for the win holding the Georges to seven hits.  Losing pitcher Curt Bloomquist allowed just seven hits and fanned 10 in taking the loss.  He also had two hits and knocked in the lone run for Spokane.  The Chiefs' win forced a second Kalispell - Spokane contest to decide the tournament champions.

Managhan and Gustin
Bloomquist and Hinz

Mulcahy, who had come to the Chiefs after pitching in the ManDak League with Williston Oilers, finished the tournament with two pitching wins as he tossed 17 innings allowing just two runs with seven walks and 34 strikeouts.  At the plate he went 8-24 with 2 homers, 3 doubles, 7 runs scored and 10 batted in.
  

(September) American Baseball Congress, Northwest Playoffs

(September 11) Ted Berner fired a two-hit shutout as Watertown, SD (Dick's Sports Shop) whipped Troy, Montana, Boosters 8-0. The 6-foot 4-inch Berner had 12 strikeouts while allowing six bases on balls.  Kenny Wight and Gene Furness each drove in three runs for the winners. Ken McCormick had the only homer.  The Montana club arrived late after two days and 13-hundred miles of travel.  A crowd of more than 2-thousand waited out an hour's delay as Troy experienced car trouble enroute.  The Montana club arrived with just nine players.  New recruit Morrie Mulcahy (later to be revealed as Tom Mulcahy) had one of the hits for Troy.

Cain and Joirman
Berner and Furness

(September 12)  Dick Miller and Morrie Mulcahy cominbed on a five-hitter as Troy ousted Lemmon, SD from the ABC tournament with a 5-1 victory. Miller had a three-hit shutout going into the 9th but allowed a run and loaded the bases on two hits, an error and a hit batsman.  Mulcahy took over and got out of the jam with a double play and a ground out.  Clint Humble had a homer and single for Troy while Mulcahy, who started in left field, had a triple, single and stolen base. 

Miller, Mulcahy (9) and Joirman
Mowry, Hasche (7) and Maher

(September 13)  Morrie Mulcahy tossed a four-hitter to lead Troy to an 11-1 triumph over Eureka, the South Dakota champions. The game was halted in the 7th inning due to the tourney's eight-run rule. Mulcahy, who escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first frame, fanned 10 in picking up the win.  The former Gonzaga University star also paced the hitters, driving in three runs with a double and single.

Gunderson and Kary
Mulcahy and Joirman

(September 13)  Troy was disqualifed from the ABC playoffs after it was learned that Morrie Mulcahy was really Tom Mulcahy, who had played semi-pro ball with Williston Oilers earlier in the summer.  Mulcahy was ruled ineligible for the tournament.  Troy had lost to St. Regis in the Montana playoffs but answered a last minute appeal to make the trek as a replacement. 
  

(July 24)   The Great Falls Air Force Base Jetliners downed Opheim Radar 18-0 in the tournament for the Montana semi-pro championship.  George Hume tossed the shutout allowing just four hits.  Had had 12 strikeouts. 

Opheim had moved into the title round with a 6-5 win over Sidney after scoring a 5-4 win over Great Falls and downing Shelby 5-3.   Great Falls dropped Shelby 13-2 and Sidney 16-2.  John Gordy was the winner in each game.  He fired a one-hitter against Shelby with the only safety a first inning homer.

The winner advances to the National Baseball Congress tournament in Wichita.