RICK McDONALD MEMORIAL FASTBALL LEAGUE

 

 

                                                                                                  THE SUDBURY NORTH STARS MAGIC NUMBER IS NOW ONE

 

 

 

                                                          Two league games were played Thursday night at the Lorne Brady Memorial Park in Garson . In the opener , the league defending champions , the North Stars picked up their 11th win of the season and now only need one victory or a Cardinal loss to clinch their 5th Commissioner’s Cup in six years . They have yet to taste defeat in 2011 .Veteran John Ainslie ran his league leading record to 10 and o going the distance in giving up just 4 hits ,  striking out 6 batters and issuing but one single base on balls . Troy Nootchtai (2-5) started for Whitefish Lake Falcons was tagged with his 5th loss of the season giving way to Andy Nootchtai in the fourth frame .Both hurlers gave up a combined 11 hits , fanned 2 batters and issued three base on balls . Lanny Fichette of  the North Stars led all batters going (triple) 2 for 3 at the dish while Misodis Rice went a perfect 2 for 2 in a losing cause for the Falcons .

                                                          The nightcap was a slug fest between the Swick Hounds of Garson and the Pickerel River Cardinals . No less than 23 runs were scored with the Cardinals coming up on top 14 to 9 when it was all over . Jonathan Contin (5-3) went the distance to pick up his 5th victory of the season giving up 15 hits , striking out 11 batters while not issuing a single base on balls . Al Guenette (0-2) in his third consecutive outing of the season was tagged with his second loss giving up a whopping 23 hits , fanning 3 batters and not issuing a single base on balls . Craig Brown led the Cardinals slug fest hitting for the cycle(single,double,triple,home run)-a first by a player this year , including a solo home run to left field to start off the game . Shane Bene hit 2 for 3 in a losing cause for the Hounds .

                                                           League play resumes Monday night July the 11th in Azilda at the Rick McDonald Memorial Park , 7 pm , when the last place Swick Hounds of Garson attempt to give the Sudbury North Stars their first loss in a rained game from June 1st .

The 37th annual Huntsville Men’s Fastball tournament gets underway this evening with 6  preliminary  round robin games slated starting at 7 pm  on field A and C .Those games will be followed by games at 8:30 pm and 10 pm on the same fields . All three fields will see action on Saturday starting at 9  am with last preliminary game scheduled for 7 pm . All three  fields (next to the concession booth)  will be in use .The playoff round in four divisions gets underway Sunday morning . I’ll be reporting the final results including photos  come Monday July the 11th .