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Just prior to the start of the playoffs
Lethbridge Herald columnist Don Maclean wrote:
"They hung the Western Canada
Baseball League out to dry last Monday night after it had been all washed up
by the lack of support in Edmonton.
Right now the Lethbridge White Sox and the
Saskatoon Commodores are going through the motions of holding a best-of-nine
playoff to decide the league champion. That is a foregone
conclusion. Saskatoon is league champion by a country mile.
Lethbridge, with a host of replacements, will make a series of it, we think,
but we doubt ... they can stop the Commodores.
The charges of Spero Leakos and Lyle
Olsen were the pick of the league. They deserve to be called
champs and they probably will be. But the additions made to the
Lethbridge team should provide the best brand of baseball that's been seen
here in a long time." (Lethbridge
Herald, August 17, 1961)
(August 15) Lethbridge owner George
Wesley announced six additions for the playoff series with Saskatoon -- J.B.
Carroll, Bob Milano, Alton Arnold, Dick
Dyer and John Rebelo from Medicine Hat, and Tony
Taylor from Edmonton. Curly Williams, the
Meridians playing-manager would also suit up with the White Sox. Wesley
released five players -- Blaine Sylvester, Pete Kinney,
Tom Ingram, Danny Salazar and John Bartholomew.
(August 17) The fortified Lethbridge White Sox scored a stunning
upset in the opening game of the Western Canada Baseball League's
best-of-nine final. Newcomer Len Tucker singled, stole second
and scored the game's only run on an infield out in the 15th inning to give
the Sox a 1-0 win over the Commodores at Saskatoon. The Commodores had
been runaway winners in the regular season finishing 16 games ahead of the
Meridians and 22 games up on the Sox. Dick Dyer, an
addition to the Sox from Medicine Hat, allowed eight hits, fanned six and
walked four in going the distance. Hard luck loser Floyd Thionnet
pitched a three-hitter with 10 strikeouts. John Boccabella
of the Commodores had the game's lone extra base hit, a double.
Dyer and Milano
Thionnet and Herrington
(August 18) John Boccabella's
run-scoring single in the bottom of the 12th inning gave Saskatoon a 4-3 win
over Lethbridge and knotted the best-of-nine final and 1-1. Boccabella
had given the Commodores the lead in the second inning with a bases-empty
homer. The Sox tied the score in the third and went up 3-1 in the
fourth as Jim Lester drove in Norm Harding with
a single and scored on a safety by Terry Banderas. Midge
Fazio tripled home a run and then scored on a infield out in
the sixth inning to again tie the contest. Bob Peters,
who took over for starter Dan Schneider in the 12th, picked up
the win. Alton Arnold, who went the distance, was the
loser.
Arnold and Milano
Schneider, Peters (12) and Herrington
(August 19) Jim Lester's
bases-loaded bunt single in the top of the 9th scored Len Tucker
with what proved to be the winning run as Lethbridge took a 2-1 game lead in
the WCBL final with a 2-1 victory at Saskatoon. Tucker led off
the 9th with a walk and moved to third on a single by Curly Williams.
With one out, Terry Banderas drew an intentional walk to load
the sacks. Lester, in a pinch-hitting role, laid down a bunt
which rolled out of the reach of Saskatoon pitcher Gene Graves.
The Commodores had taken a 1-0 lead in the
second inning on Buddy Hollowell's run-scoring triple.
The Sox tied the score in the fourth when Tucker, who had singled,
scored all the way from first on a sharp single by Williams.
Jerry McDonald held the
Commodores to three hits in picking up the win.
McDonald and Milano
Graves and Herrington
(August 21) After three, one-run
decisions in the WCBL final series, Lethbridge took advantage of eight hits
and four Saskatoon errors to plate ten runs and score a 10-2 victory before
14-hundred fans at Henderson Stadium. Willie Walasko
allowed just six hits. Both runs against him were unearned as the Sox
committed five errors. Bob Milano knocked in three runs
for the Sox with a double and a single.
Sutherland, Peters (4), Goodrich (8) and
Herrington
Walasko and Milano
(August 22) Jim Lester
knocked in the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning to give
Lethbridge a 4-3 win and a 4-1 game lead in the best-of-nine final. It
was the third extra inning game in the series. Stan Busch,
who made several outstanding defensive plays, led the Sox at the plate with
a triple, double and single. Norm Harding, Bob Milano
and Lester each had two hits. John Rebelo, who
replaced starter Tommy Taylor in the 10th, was the winning
pitcher.
Thionnet, Peters (9) and Herrington
Taylor, Rebelo (10) and Milano
(August 23) Lethbridge White Sox
claimed the Western Canada Baseball League title for the second straight
season with a 4-2 win over Saskatoon before 14-hundred fans at Henderson
Stadium. Sox took the best-of-nine series in six games. Lefty Dave
Dowling pitched a brilliant five-hitter, striking out 18.
Dowling fanned the side in the second, third and sixth innings. Len
Tucker led the Sox with a triple, double and single while Jim
Lester, the hero of Monday's game, had two hits.
Schneider, Peters (8) and Herrington
Dowling and Garrett
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