(May 20) Saskatoon T'Birds of the Mid-West League captured the Maymont Victoria Day Tournament Monday defeating Wilkie 13-9 in the final. Shelly Gautschi pitched into the 8th inning for the win before giving way to Gary Delorme. Harvey Grummett and Ken Johnston belted homers for the winners.
xxx and xxx
Gautschi (W), Delmore (8) and xxx
(June 30) The Regina Red Sox picked up a major share of the money at stake in the rain-shortened Melville baseball tournament. The Sox defeated the Melville Millionaires 6 to 1 in the first game of the tourney and collected $200 when rain forced cancellation of the remaining games. The Moose Jaw Regals and Swift Current Indians played only three innings of the second game before rain brought a halt to the event.
(July 1) Unity Cardinals crushed the North Battlerford Beavers 11-1 to win top money in the Northern Saskatchewan league's annual Dominion Day tournament. Bill Welcher, a new import, making his first start for Unity, pitched seven innings of shutout ball before turning over mop-up duties to Larry Haylor. Greg Dvorak took the loss. A six-run 8th inning put the game out of reach. Jim Shaw, named the tourney's most valuable player, led the Cards with two hits, one a triple. Erwin Doerkson added three singles.
Welchers (W) and xxx
Dvorak (L), Lister and xxx
Playing before the home fans, Unity reached the final with an 8-4 victory over Saskatoon Commodores. Cardinals rang up three runs in the first inning and another five in the third and coasted to the win. Ross Stone went the distance for the mound decision. Ron Fyfe took the loss. Dick Schmidt's two-run triple was the big blow for the Cards.
Stone (W) and xxx
Fyfe (L), xxx (3) and xxx
Cards downed Kindersley 4-0 in their opening game behind Vince Rucobo's three-hit shutout. He struck out ten and also hit a double and scored a run. Gary Houston was charged with the loss.
Rucobo (W) and xxx
Houston (L) and xxx
North Battleford won it's opening round match 5-2 over Biggar as Pete Duncan held the Nationals to five hits. Irl Davis took the loss. After Biggar had taken the early lead with a run in the 3rd, the Beavers stormed back with four runs in their half of the frame. Ira McKnight drove in two with a single and Cam Sternig plated two more with a double. Beavers won a bye to the final.
Duncan (W) and xxx
Davis (L) and xxx
In other opening round action, Saskatoon Commodores got a brilliant two-hitter from Scott Simon to blank Neilburg Monarchs 1-0. The left-hander fanned 16 in the seven-inning contest and drove in the only run with the single. Losing pitcher Mike Wendt allowed just four hits.
Simon (W) and xxx
Wendt (L) and xxx
(July 14) The Swift Current Indians collected $1,100 as the winner's share of the annual Swift Current Shriners Invitational baseball tournament. The Tribe defeated the North Battleford Beavers of the N.S.B.L. 5 to 2 in the tournament final before more than 1,500 fans. Tom Sharpe, who relieved starter Les Wall in the fourth, took the pitching win in the final. Sharpe had an earlier win in Swift Current's 13 to 1 pasting of the Edmonton Outlaws. The Indians advanced to the final by posting an 11 to 8 come-from-behind victory over the Moose Jaw Regals. Beavers had advanced with a 9-8 win over Unity on Ken Nelson's two-out, two-run, pinch-hit double in the 9th inning,
(July 15) In an exhibition march Monday, Unity Cardinals of the Northern Saskatchewan League shaded Eston Ramblers 4-3 on Vince Rucobo's sacrifice fly to score Lyle May in the 9th inning. Bob Welcher was the winning hurler over Bob Burchfield.
Welcher (W) and xxx
Burchfield (L) and xxx
(July 25) The Moose Jaw Regals of the Southern League captured their second straight Lacombe Lions baseball tournament , beating the Unity Cardinals 1 to 0 in the final game. Roy Rowley was the hero for the Regals for the third time during the tourney when his sixth inning single drove in the game's only run. In the opening game of the tournament, Rowley drove in the winning run to beat the Saskatoon Commodores and in the semi-final game, he was the winning pitcher against the North Battleford Beavers and again had the game-winning hit. Wayne LeBere pitched into the eighth inning of the final to earn the pitching win for Moose Jaw.
In opening round play, a 10th inning single by Bruce Lofting and a run-scoring sacrifice fly by catcher Bob Norton gave Cold Lake Parrots a 4-3 upset win over Kindersley Klippers. Jim Fox hurled a five-hitter for Cold Lake and helped out at the plate with two hits. Only one of the four runs was earned. A long double by pinch-hitter Harold Hunchak sent the game into extra innings. Barry Woodruff started for the Klippers giving way to Pat Viner in the 9th.
Fox (W) and Norton
Woodruff, Viner (L) (9) and Dubey
Three 10th inning errors, two by third baseman Roger Pozzo, cost Central Alberta All-stars a 6-3 decision to North Battleford Beavers. Beavers scored three runs on one hit to take the decision. Jerry Lister captured the mound victory in a relief role.
Duncan, Lister (W) (6) and McKnight
Chutz (L) and Bonham
Unity Cardinals crushed the Edmonton All-Stars 13-2 as Vince Rucobo fired a three-hitter and fanned 13.Jim Shaw clubbed a grand slam homer off losing hurler Rick Curtis. All-Stars made seven errors in a contest shortened to seven innings by a 10-run "mercy" rule.
Rucobo (W) and May
Curtis (L),
Schultz (2), Kadatz and Erickson
The defending champion Moose Jaw Regals shaded Saskatoon Commodores 3-2 behind the hurling of Tom Sharpe and Jack Jagger. Losing pitcher Scott Simon, who scored both Saskatoon runs, was ejected in the 8th inning.
Sharpe (W), Jagger (8) and Tollefson
Simon (L), Middleton (8) and Bogren
(July 28) Kindersley Klippers scored two late runs to down North Battleford 3-2 to claim top money of $1, 100 in the annual Elk's Tournament at Kindersley. Lane Jackson's single in the 9th drove in Jerry Flanagan with the winner after playing-coach Wayne Morgan had knocked in Jackson with the tying marker with a pinch-hit single in the 8th. Beavers had taken the lead with Cam Sternig's two-run homer in the 4th inning. Harold Hunchak, a former member of the Beavers, scattered eight hits to go the distance for the win. Greg Dvorak was tagged with the loss.
Dvorak (L) and xxx
Hunchak (W) and xxx
Kindersley reached the final with an 8-1 victory over Eston while the Beavers clobbered Unity 16-1. In earlier games, Eston shaded Saskatoon Commodores 5-4, Klippers topped the Alberta All-Stars 13-0, Beavers beat Regina Red Sox 13-0 and Unity upended the Yorkton Cardinals 7-2.
The tournament was played on a sad note following the death Friday of Neilburg pitcher Pat Viner. He was killed and two others injured in a car accident. Viner, John Dubey and Mike Wendt, all from California, were returning from Edmonton after playing for the Klippers in the Lacombe Tournament.
(August 4) A four-team, single knockout tournament referred to by the S.B.A. as the Saskatchewan major senior baseball championship was partially completed in Kindersley before rain halted the one-day event. The Regina Red Sox were victorious 5 to 1 over the North Battleford Beavers, present N.S.B.L. leaders, while the Saskatoon Commodores had little trouble eliminating the Yorkton Cardinals, winning 10 to 2. Lefthander Doug Homme picked up the win for the Red Sox over North Battleford while southpaw Bill Sobkow took the loss for Yorkton who went to the tournament with only a nine-player squad. The Regina team is the only one in either the Southern League or the N.S.B.L. which goes solely with home-grown talent. All teams in the northern circuit are allowed two American imports as are three of the five Southern League squads.
(August 14) The Regina Red Sox' bid for a second Saskatchewan major senior baseball championship was shot down in flames as Scott Simon from Sacramento, California tossed a three-hitter at them in guiding the Saskatoon Commodores to the title with a 4 to 0 blanking of the Red Stockings at Cairns Field in the Hub City. Rookie right-hander Dave Seely took the loss.